Recently we saw some alarming satellite photos of planet-sized spheres orbiting the Sun, which were written off by NASA as radar blips or swamp gas or something. But then a funny thing happened- a mission to "study" the Sun popped back into the news. This project has also figured in 2012 theorizing, since it's set to study solar storms and their effect on the planet's magnetic spheres and especially, our power and communications networks.From Space.com: "A powerful new solar observatory will spend the next five years recording images of the sun with 10 times better resolution than HD television, peering deep within the sun's layers to reveal just how solar storms erupt. The observations could help scientists build the first effective models for space weather forecasting.NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is slated for launch on Feb. 10 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carries three instruments that will pierce the mysteries enshrouding the sun's magnetic fields and ultraviolet radiation, which together help shape the Earth's atmosphere every day."The unique characteristic of SDO is that it is designed to see everything all the time," said Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO Project Scientist NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C."
(Source: Secret Sun)