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NASA's latest space telescope, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, is delivering unprecedented images of our local star. The telescope was launched Feb. 11. NASA released the first tremendously exciting data from the mission today.

"These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research," said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA, in a release. "SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics."

The sun's internal dynamics were the subject of intense interest over the last few years as the normal waxing and waning of solar activity did not follow past cycles as closely as anticipated. The solar minimum of 2008 stretched deep into 2009, raising questions about how well we understand the complex internal dynamics that drive sun spots, solar flares and coronal-mass ejections.

If the video link isn't working, use the original link below.

Link: Wired Science

Been meaning to post this for ages...

The Guardian's Jonathan Glancey wrote:

In some areas of Britain, you'll see mobile phone masts in plain view in all their stark, skeletal nakedness. In others, well, you won't see them at all. Why? Because they've been hidden in the clockfaces of town halls (Hungerford, Berkshire), or in street signs (Northumberland Avenue, Westminster), while out of town they are commonly disguised as trees. In talking to and txt msging one another we . . . talk to the trees. For seven years Robert Voit has photographed these bizarre artificial trees - including faux cypress, pine, palm and, in Arizona, cactus. Many, as you can see, are simply funny. Cartoonish. Awkward. Outlandish. Kitsch. They are meant to blend in with their natural surroundings, yet, as Voit's eyecatching photos prove, they rarely do. On the other hand, would you want the world's landscapes pockmarked with mobile phone masts?

It's a tough choice - take a look at some of the solutions. There are a few really good ideas but many clunky ones due to the sheer size of the things compared to their surroundings.

Last June, Help My Physics placed some photographic film into a tin canister with a small hole punched into its side. The tin canister was then attached to a clothes pole in their back garden and left.

This afternoon I fetched the canister and took the photographic film out. My son John scanned the photographic film and with the aid of some image software made the image negative. The result is the picture above. The picture clearly shows the path of the sun through the sky over the last six months. I believe you can see we didn't have a great summer by the broken lines at the top. More sun shone in the month of October.

[Via Help My Physics]