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when it comes to learning about stars

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there is no closer classroom than our

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Sun that's why NASA began an in-depth

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study of the Sun and Earth relationship

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in a program dubbed living with a star

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the first mission in the space weather

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program is the Solar Dynamics

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Observatory or sdo scheduled to launch

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from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in

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Florida welcome to the Solar Dynamics

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Observatory webcast I'm Tiffany now with

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NASA's launch services program in the

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next few minutes we'll tell you what sdo

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might uncover about the Sun and how all

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of us on earth can benefit from finding

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out more about that bright orange disk

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in the sky but sto is not NASA's first

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mission to study the Sun several of

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NASA's past missions focused on the Sun

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pioneer 5 was the first it launched in

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1960 with instruments to study the solar

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wind and other phenomena the instruments

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are primitive by today's standards but

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back then pioneer gave researchers their

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first up-close look at a star in 1973

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NASA made observing the Sun a central

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goal of the skylab space station the

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agency's first space station included a

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telescope designed to look closely at

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the Sun astronauts living on the station

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spent hours making specialized

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observations what they found on Skylab

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with what we call coronal holes and we

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did not know about coronal holes until

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they started taking these images I would

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say thats Skylab coming out with that

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type of photography was one of its most

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important things SDO is cutting edge

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instruments offer researchers an

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unprecedented opportunity to examine the

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star at the center of our solar system

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in fact the readings are expected to be

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precise enough for researchers to

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forecast solar weather and predict when

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satellites in space and even electronics

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on earth will be endangered by a store

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on the Sun we had 15 years of fairly

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constant industry and we've taken that

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data and designed us do to improve the

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ability to do science and to the ability

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to predict space weather we measure not

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just a strength of the magnetic field we

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measure also its direction and we think

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that the how much the magnetic field

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direction changes over a small part of

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the Sun is probably related to whether

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or not space weather things are going to

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happen solar flares can cause power

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surges on earth and wreak havoc on space

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stations and satellites orbiting the

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planet so researchers want to find out

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what makes solar flares and other

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turbulent events occur on the Sun and

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then find out if there's a pattern or

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signs that we could use on earth to

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predict future flares sto will look at

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the Sun and try to understand where the

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magnetic field comes from when we talk

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about flares and coronal mass ejections

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that's the Sun getting rid of stuff that

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magnetic field is no longer in the Sun

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it wants it gone and it gets rid of the

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energy by having magnetic flares that

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release bright flashes of light and it

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gets rid of the leftover magnetic field

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by just throwing it off the spacecraft

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will use three instruments to examine

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the Sun including one that will take

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pictures rivaling the resolution of an

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IMAX movie another instrument called the

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helioseismic and magnetic imager or hm I

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will measure the sound waves bouncing

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around inside the Sun to construct an

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image of the stars inner workings the

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data could reveal why the Sun operates

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in an 11-year cycle of activity the

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extreme ultraviolet variability

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experiment will monitor the sun's

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brightness in the extreme ultraviolet

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wavelength which changes constantly are

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three instruments on here are really new

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and improved versions of some other

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instruments that have flown and of

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course we have a lot more data and we

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take a lot more pictures so then that's

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one thing the scientist love because as

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they say the Sun changes time it changes

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every second and we're going to be

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imaging it every second and we image the

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full disk of the Sun taken together the

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information s do

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collects could give scientists ways to

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predict future solar disturbances and

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help developers on earth come up with

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ways to protect sensitive electronics in

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space and on the planet while the work

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from s do is expected to be

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groundbreaking it took a lot of

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researchers and several previous

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missions to show scientist what kind of

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instruments they would need to put on

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the spacecraft solar studies have relied

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on data from a host of missions looking

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at the Sun from different perspectives

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the solar maximum mission launched in

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1982 look at solar flares and other

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events the mission was extended by

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shuttle astronauts in 1984 who repaired

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the spacecraft in orbit solar max

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operated until nineteen eighty nine NASA

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and the European Space Agency jointly

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developed the Ulysses spacecraft which

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launched on shuttle discovery in 1990

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alessi k researchers unique looks at the

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sun's North and South Poles the Solar

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and Heliospheric Observatory known as

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Soho launched in 1995 aboard an atlas to

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sohos observations are similar to those

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in vision for s do although s do is

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carrying more advanced instruments well

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the big challenge of this mission is its

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data rate it's a hundred and 50 megabits

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per second 24 hours a day it's

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relentless most of the astronomical

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spacecraft are looking at sort of faint

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sources so they don't have that much

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like we're looking at the Sun right a

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lot of photons come off the Sun and we

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gotta process those and get them down to

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the ground but before SDO can start its

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observations it has to get into space

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that's the job of a powerful Atlas 5

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rocket the Atlas will lift the 6800

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pound spacecraft to an orbit about

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22,000 miles above Earth the Atlas 5 is

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one of the largest boosters available to

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NASA and was used to launch the lunar

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reconnaissance orbiter and moon

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impacting el crossface craft sto is one

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of the largest solar observatories we've

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ever launched it had a heavy lift

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requirement so we chose the Atlas 5 is

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the rocket

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this mission the Atlas 5 is unique for

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its launch structure Alice fire has been

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a very reliable rocket we've used it on

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a couple of NASA missions it's unique in

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that it's chosen a clean pad concept for

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it so launch processing the Rockets

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actually built on a mobile launch

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platform in the vehicle behind me the

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vertical integration facility and then

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rolled out with rail cars out to the pad

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the day of launch one advantage of this

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clean pad concept that they chose is

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that the rocket is processed safe and

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secure in a building and then it rolls

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out the day of launch and that way if

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they have a problem a storm or something

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like that they can roll back in the

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facility it's not exposed to the

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elements for very long it just gives

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them a lot of flexibility in the

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processing a lot of protection for the

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rock as well as the spacecraft the day

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before launch technicians will roll the

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rocket out of his protective service

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structure they'll fuel the first stage

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and the Centaur upper stage as the Atlas

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stands on the pad the spacecraft was

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built in Maryland at NASA's Goddard

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Space Flight Center and it arrived in

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florida in august two thousand nine it

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went through a number of comprehensive

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tests including deploying the spacecraft

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solar arrays technicians install stos

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batteries and loaded fuel into the

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spacecraft before it was trucked to the

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launch complex spacecraft typically

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spend several months in launch

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integration and testing because the

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machines are designed to work in such a

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harsh place that technicians and

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scientists want to make sure everything

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is just right before launch the Sun is

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our Astrophysical laboratory this is the

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place where we look at the Sun and stop

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calling it the Sun when we look at the

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Sun it's just an average star when we

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look out in the universe and we plot

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star stuff up the sun's always right in

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the middle it's like the perfect average

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star and if our average star has solar

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activity

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and indeed we do you know we need to

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know when a solar event is going to

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happen we can save a life a day before

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the Solar Dynamics Observatory begins

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its mission the excitement is reaching a

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crescendo here at NASA's Kennedy Space

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Center we hope you've enjoyed this look

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at the mission and found out a little

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more about our closest star the Sun