Moment of Wonder: Staring at the Sun

NASA has uploaded its first batch of ultra-high definition videos, including a beautiful and hellish close-up video of the sun’s surface.

The video was assembled from data collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, which orbits Sol and captures images across 10 wavelengths of invisible ultraviolet light. Each wavelength represents a different temperature of solar material.

The images allow NASA scientists to examine solar activity, such as solar flares and streams of electrified plasma called coronal loops. For lay folks like myself, they provide one mind-bending light show.

 

Moment of Wonder: Apollo Animation

Last week, the Interwebs were abuzz with news on the bursting-fat Flickr archive of images from NASA’s 11 Apollo missions. Turns out an independent group called the Project Apollo Archive, rather than the feds, spent the past 15 years prepping the photos for public consumption.

The sheer volume of images in the archive requires time and deep digging to fully enjoy. Lucky for us, filmmakers have already started doing that hard work. They’re using the pics as raw material for stop-motion animations, such as this one from Vimeo user harrisonicus, which really bring the wonder to life. Enjoy:

Apollo Missions from harrisonicus on Vimeo.