Talk:Solar Dynamics Observatory

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A news item involving Solar Dynamics Observatory was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 11 February 2010.

Wikipedia

Launch attempts

I was thinking that this section is not really unique to the SDO and doesn't add anything to its story. In th interests of conciseness and relevance, could we leave it out?Wodawik (talk) 07:26, 13 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Disclosure

The original author of this page, Teridon, works for the SDO project. Some of the information this page is not publically published; it comes from internal (though not private) documentation. Therefore Wikipedia's standard for verifiability may not be met at this point. For example, the SDO mission website has not been revised recently, and does not reflect the latest orbit information (currently, the website shows that the orbit has not been decided). Some of the information currently on this Wikipedia page is currently published on the SDO mission website, and I think it therefore meets the standard. Should the information which does not meet the standard be removed from the page? -Teridon 19:38, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As nice as it might seem to have access to this information, if it's not verifiable, it needs to be removed.--RadioFan (talk) 22:04, 11 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think all of the information on the page has now been properly cited -- Teridon (talk) 14:14, 27 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Orbit

How are the orbit characteristics chosen? How does it provide, as I have heard, eclipse-free operation? Cheers, Matt Whyndham (talk) 10:25, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I heard this is a rather unique orbit. Can anyone offer a description and an image? Njerseyguy (talk) 19:10, 11 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, more on the why, please. Why geosynchronus over west Texas? Why inclined at 28.5°? Where are the downlink stations located?DaveCrane (talk) 20:31, 11 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's pointed at a new set of 18 meter Ka-band dishes in Las Cruces, NM. That facility was built specifically for SDO though LCROSS makes some use of it as well I think I remember hearing. SDO Presskit page 10 for more info.--RadioFan (talk) 22:11, 11 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The orbit is inclined at 28.5° because it was launched from Cape Canaveral, from a latitude of 28.5°. This is the minimum possible inclination if no dogleg maneuvers are performed. Note that this is relative to the equator. If the spacecraft were launched at exactly the wrong time of the day, the inclination relative to the ecliptic would be zero. The spacecraft's orbit would be in the same plane as the Earth's orbit around the sun, and there would be a roughly 1.5 hour eclipse every day. Instead, the spacecraft's launch window was selected such that its orbit inclination relative to the ecliptic is maximized, well over 50°. This way, there are eclipse seasons only twice a year, near the times when the sun is along the line of nodes between the spacecraft orbit plane and the ecliptic plane. The higher the inclination, the shorter the eclipse season. For SDO, it is about 2 or 3 weeks, twice a year. An eclipse happens on each orbit, so once per day. Eclipses grow from zero to a maximum length of 1.5hours, then shrink back to zero again at the end of the season. I know all this because I am on the project, but I can't verify it, so I am sticking this here. 67.173.234.66 (talk) 06:16, 19 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Expand the article

This article really needs to be expanded...I've also uploaded some related pictures to the commons that may help.Smallman12q (talk) 14:14, 13 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone add some more animations/videos from http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/search/Series/SDO-Animations.html ?Smallman12q (talk) 15:17, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]