See The First Stunning Views Of The Sun From NASA’s GOES-18 Satellite

To get the best views of the sun, GOES-18 looks beyond the visible light wavelength and into the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths with its cameras. This is important because different elements emit light at these wavelengths when they become very hot, so by looking in these wavelengths, GOES-18 can observe the sun’s activity and see which elements are active.

The above photo shows six different images each in a different color to represent the six different channels of the extreme ultraviolet camera.

The large coronal mass ejection shown in the video and the images occurred on July 10, 2022. You can see this most clearly in the 304 Å channel, which is shown in the bottom right image in red. According to NOAA, the sun is becoming more active as part of its 11-year cycle so we should see more coronal mass ejections and events like solar flares in future.

Researchers at NOAA are still doing work on GOES-18, making sure everything is operating as expected through testing and checking its instruments. So these images and video are just a preview of the kind of data that it will be able to collect. NOAA says the satellite should begin its operational role in early 2023 when it will be used to monitor weather and provide early warning about solar activities which could affect power companies, telecommunication providers, and satellites.