solar dynamics observatory online interactive

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) launched Feb. 11, 2010 on a five year mission to observe the Sun. An interesting 3-D interactive of SDO is available at NASA website. You will need to download 3D Life Player to view. SDO provides images of Sun as never seen before, you can view some SDO imaging work here. "SDO is a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft, with two solar arrays, and two high-gain antennas. The spacecraft includes three instruments: the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) built in partnership with the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) built in partnership with Stanford University, and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) built in partnership with the Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory," according to its Wikipedia entry. SDO makes gazing into the Sun a whole new love affair!