Monday, February 29, 2016

A Station Keeping Maneuver in the Spring 2016 Eclipse Season

SDO's Spring 2016 Eclipse Season started on February 19, 2016, with the Earth passing between SDO and the Sun at 0712 UTC that day. The top picture shows the Earth moving across the Sun in an AIA 171 Å image while the bottom picture shows the Earth almost covering the Sun 15 minutes later. Eclipse season runs through March 12, 2016.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2016, SDO will execute stationkeeping maneuver #12 at 2250 UTC (5:50 p.m. ET). Science data will be unavailable for about 45 minutes starting 2235 UTC. These maneuvers are used to help SDO be a good neighbor in the geostationary belt that we pass though twice each day.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Happy Launch Anniversary SDO!

Today is the 6th anniversary of the SDO launch. I was looking for a good picture or movie when this came in my email. It says it all.

Happy Birthday SDO. What a great mission.