On February 11, 2010, when NASA ‘s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched into space, its path took it directly through an atmospheric optical object called a sundog. In the video above, you hear spectators amazed when the sundog flew with a rainbow as the spacecraft passes through that part of the atmosphere. It was a great start for a spaceship that helped our understanding of our local star. And the launch also brought a new form of Halo ice and taught those who love and explore sky optics new insights into how shock waves interact with clouds.
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A sundog is a bright rainbow-colored space in the sky, created by bringing back sunlight through plate-shaped ice crystals moving down from the sky like leaves flowing from trees. Les Cowley of the Atmospheric Optics website explained what ‘s happening in the video at a post at Science @ NASA:
When the rocket entered the circle, waves crashed through the cloud and destroyed the alignment of the ice crystals. This destroyed the sundog.
In this simulation, the sun is surrounded by a 22-degree halo and surrounded by sundogs. Read more at Atmospheric Optics Les Cowley.
In the video, keep an eye out for the bright column of white light that appears next to the Atlas V rocket that powered the SDO launched in 2011. Although Cowley and other sky optics experts understood why the sundog left, they did not understand the events that followed, especially that column of white light. Cowley said:
A bright column of white light appeared next to the Atlas V and followed the rocket up into the sky. We have never seen anything like it.
See more. | When the Solar Dynamic Observatory (a clear climb in the bottom left-hand corner) took a photo from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, the launch allowed optics experts to discover a new form of ice Halo. Image via NASA / Goddard / Anne Koslosky.
At first Cowley and his colleague Robert Greenler could not explain this light column. They then realized that the plate-shaped ice crystals were formed by the shock wave from the Atlas V. Cowley explained:
The crystals are flattened between 8 and 12 degrees. They then rotate so that the main crystal axis accounts for conical motion. Toy tops and gyroscopes do it. The Earth does it once every 26,000 years. The movement is orderly and precise.
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Anyway, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has now been monitoring the sun for 11 years. This is one of many observations that will keep an eye on our sun, part of NASA’s Living with a Star program. The video below highlights some of SDO’s achievements over the past decade.
Bottom line: On February 11, 2010, a solar observatory launched into space tore a sundog apart and created a new halo ice that surprised scientists.
Through Science @ NASA
Tro Atmospheric Optics Les Cowley
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