Image description: Launched in 1995, and still operational today, the Naval Research Laboratory- led LASCO instrument routinely captures spectacular images of violent solar eruptions (here, the Sun is represented by the white circle). These explosive events, when Earth-directed, can disrupt power grids, navigation and communications for extended periods of time, and have been known to permanently disable satellites.
LASCO has seen over 13,000 solar coronal mass ejections in its 16+ years of operation, helping scientists study where and when these events occur and how they will impact us on Earth.
The LASCO instrument has also helped discover over 2,300 comets through the very popular Sungrazing Comets citizen science project. Amazingly, the majority of these comets have been found by amateur astronomers and enthusiasts who search through LASCO images from the comfort of their own home. Anyone can help discover comets — all you need is an Internet connection and plenty of free time!
Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/NRL
Image description: A student participating in the CanSat competition goes through a pre-flight safety check of her satellite.
The CanSat competition, sponsored by the Navy Research Laboratory and NASA, challenged teams of college students to develop a satellite in a can with a special deployable part that would land safely and protect a raw egg inside.
The satellites were launched about 2001 feet in the air by rockets.
Twenty-six team entered the competition, held in Texas, and earned points based on design, pre-flight inspections and post-flight reviews.
Learn more about the CanSat competition.
Photo from the Navy Research Laboratory.
Image description: At the end of August, a filament from the sun suddenly erupted into space. The filament had been held up for days by the Sun’s ever changing magnetic field and the timing of the eruption was unexpected. Learn more about the eruption.
Image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Multiple Views of the Solar Flare on July 12, 2012
Video description
This video from NASA shows a recent solar flare in a variety of wavelengths. There is a combined wavelength view at the end.
Learn about the solar flare and view photos of it.
Video from the Solar Dynamic Observatory’s (SDO) AIA instrument.
Image description: The Hubble Space Telescope captured a crowd of stars that looks rather like a stadium darkened before a show, lit only by the flashbulbs of the audience’s cameras. Learn more about these stars.
Photo by ESA/NASA
