The solar corona in a new light: initial results from the
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory


Karel Schrijver
Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research

The recently-launched Solar Dynamics Observatory is changing our view of solar activity, with its three
state-of-the-art instruments for helioseismic and magnetic imaging (HMI), for observations of the solar
corona (AIA), and the solar spectral irradiance (EVE). The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly observes the
entire visible solar corona at the best resolution of its predecessors, but with seven EUV channels to provide
full thermal coverage, and with a cadence of about 10 seconds. Its data rate exceeds those of SOHO's EIT
by a factor of 10,000 and of TRACE by 1,000. These enormous advances reveal details of the solar
corona never seen before. In its first month of observations, AIA has already seen multiple filament eruptions,
flares, active regions, and coronal holes. In this talk, I will review some of the first results from these early
observations, which include post-eruption thermal evolution, global coronal waves and coronal-loop oscillations,
coronal rain, and the intricate interconnections on scales from small ephemeral regions up to a solar radius.