How to see Venus, Comets, and famous solar storms in NASA’s Decade of the Sun Video
By: Briana Brownell
Tags: Astronomy, Physics, Science, Space

On December 2, 2020, NASA released a beautiful video composite of images of the sun over the last 25 years. But the 45-minute runtime means you might miss out on some of the most interesting parts of the video, especially if you just skip around.

Instead, I’ve compiled some highlights from the video that will help you appreciate the imagery.

Here’s the video:

Transit of Venus

Every so often, our sister planet Venus passes directly between us and the sun. Because of our orbits, there are two close transits followed by a long wait for the next one.

Dates: June 8, 2004 and June 5–6, 2012

Timestamps: 12:46–12:50 and 30:26–30:30

“This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The next will not happen until 2117.” — NASA

“The top image shows Venus on the eastern limb of the Sun. The faint ring around the planet comes from the scattering of its atmosphere, which allows some sunlight to show around the edge of the otherwise dark planetary disk. The faint glow on the disk is an effect of the TRACE telescope. The bottom left image is in the ultraviolet, and the bottom right image is in the extreme ultraviolet.” — Courtesy NASA

Comet Neowise

Like many of you, I went out to see if I could see comet Neowise, one of the only recent comets visible with the naked eye. You can see it in NASA’s video too.

Dates: June 22, 2020 —June 28, 2020

Timestamp: 46:52–46:54

“A comet visiting from the most distant parts of our solar system is putting on a spectacular display. Named Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, the comet made its once-in-our-lifetimes close approach to the Sun on July 3, 2020, and will cross outside Earth’s orbit on its way back to the outer parts of the solar system by mid-August.

The comet cruised just inside Mercury’s orbit on July 3. This very close passage by the Sun is cooking the comet’s outermost layers, causing gas and dust to erupt off the icy surface and creating a large tail of debris. And yet the comet has managed to survive this intense roasting.” — NASA

iss063e040072 (July 5, 2020) — — The tiny shooting star in the lower center of this image is Comet Neowise pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited above the Mediterranean Sea in between Tunisia and Italy.

Comet NEOWISE was first observed by NASA NEOWISE spacecraft on Valentine Day, 2014. This heat-sensitive infrared image was made by combining six exposures taken by the NEOWISE mission of the newly discovered comet.

Comet ISON

Comet ISON, unfortunately, was not visible with the naked eye as it came by Earth in late 2013. However in NASA’s observations, you can see the comet breaking up as it whips around the sun.

Dates: November 30, 2013 — December 1, 2013

Timestamp: 33:30–33:31

“Comet ISON shows off its tail in this three-minute exposure taken on Nov. 19, 2013 at 6:10 a.m. EST, using a 14-inch telescope located at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The comet is just nine days away from its close encounter with the sun; hopefully it will survive to put on a nice show during the first week of December. The star images are trailed because the telescope is tracking on the comet, which is now exhibiting obvious motion with respect to the background stars over a period of minutes. At the time of this image, Comet ISON was some 44 million miles from the sun — and 80 million miles from Earth — moving at a speed of 136,700 miles per hour.” — NASA

Comet ISON as seen by STEREO on Nov. 25, 2013 — NASA

Halloween Solar Storm 2003

“Called the ‘Halloween Storms of 2003,’ these energetic storms began, surprisingly, a full two to three years after solar maximum, when solar activity was on the decline. During this usually “quiet” time, when few sunspots are visible, an outbreak of 17 major flares erupted on the sun. The 2003 Halloween solar storms were so powerful that auroras were seen as far south as Texas and Florida.” — NASA

Dates: October 19-November 7, 2003

Timestamp: 11:25–11:33

J. Jussila: “Clear skies were with us for two nights in a row, and the activity was good. The biggest blast of the night covered Finland with bright auroras early in the evening, but some were also left for later — like these forms in my pictures. “ — NASA

Bastille Day Event

There have been two recent major solar events on Bastille Day — One in 2000 and the second in 2017.

Bastille Day Event 2000

“The Bastille Day Flare or Bastille Day Event was a powerful solar flare on July 14, 2000, the national day of France, occurring near the peak of the solar maximum in solar cycle 23.

The X5.7-class flare originated from a sunspot known as Active region 9077, which subsequently caused an S3 radiation storm on Earth fifteen minutes later as energetic protons bombarded the ionosphere.

It was the biggest solar radiation event since 1989. The proton event was four times more intense than any previously recorded since the launches of SOHO in 1995 and ACE in 1997.

The flare was also followed by a full-halo coronal mass ejection and a geomagnetic super storm on July 15–16. The geomagnetic storm peaked at the extreme level, G5, in the late hours of July 15.

Despite their great distance from the Sun, the Bastille Day event was observed by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.” — Wikipedia

Date: July 14, 2000

Timestamp: 3:52–3:54

Bastille Day Event 2017

“A flare medium-sized (M2) flare and a coronal mass ejection erupted from the same, large active region (July 14, 2017).

The flare lasted almost two hours, quite a long duration. Coronagraphs on the SOHO spacecraft show a substantial cloud of charged particles blasting into space just after the blast.

The coils arcing over this active region are particles spiraling along magnetic field lines, which were reorganizing themselves after the magnetic field was disrupted by the blast.” — NASA

This image was taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. — Courtesy NASA

Date: July 14, 2017

Timestamp: 40:57

Solar Maximum and Minimum

Every 11 years, the sun completes one solar cycle. However, the exact length of the cycle varies and can be up to 16 years long.

Solar Maximum Dates: April 2014

Timestamp: 34:13–34:23

Solar Minimum Dates: December 2019

Timestamp: 45:44–45:55

This split image shows the difference between an active Sun during solar maximum (on the left, captured in April 2014) and a quiet Sun during solar minimum (on the right, captured in December 2019). December 2019 marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 25, and the Sun’s activity will once again ramp up until solar maximum, predicted for 2025. — NASA

Briana Brownell is a data scientist turned entrepreneur and expert in AI, as well as a science enthusiast. For more please see here.