Explore the Sun in real time — 11 wavelengths, time-lapse animation, and GIF export
Powered by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, observing the Sun continuously since 2010
171 Å — The Sun's quiet corona at 1 million Kelvin, in SDO's iconic gold false-color
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is a NASA spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit that photographs the Sun every 12 seconds across multiple wavelengths of light. Different wavelengths reveal different layers of the Sun — from the visible surface up through the corona — and different temperatures of plasma.
This app gives you an interactive window into that data stream, pulling live and historical imagery from the free Helioviewer API. No account or API key needed.
Each channel captures a different solar layer using a different atomic emission line. The false colors are the standard palette used by NASA/SDO science teams.
| Wavelength | What you're seeing | Temperature | False Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| 94 Å | Flaring regions, active region cores | 6.3 MK | 🟩 Green |
| 131 Å | Flaring plasma, transition region | 0.4 – 10 MK | 🩵 Teal |
| 171 Å | Quiet corona, coronal loops | 1 MK | 🟨 Gold |
| 193 Å | Hot corona, coronal holes | 1.5 MK | 🟫 Bronze |
| 211 Å | Active regions, hot corona | 2 MK | 🟪 Violet |
| 304 Å | Chromosphere, prominences | 0.05 MK | 🟥 Red |
| 335 Å | Active region corona | 2.5 MK | 🟦 Blue |
| 1600 Å | Upper photosphere, transition region | 0.1 MK | 🟡 Yellow |
| 1700 Å | Temperature minimum, photosphere | 0.005 MK | 🩷 Pink |
| HMI Continuum | Visible surface — sunspots | 5800 K | ⬜ Grayscale |
| HMI Magnetogram | Magnetic field polarity | — | ⬜ Grayscale |
Full-disk image of the Sun in your chosen wavelength. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, double-click to reset. Time controls let you jump anywhere from May 2010 to now.
304 Å — The chromosphere in red/orange, showing prominences and filaments
Side-by-side 2×2 grid showing four wavelengths simultaneously. Use the dropdowns to swap any panel.
171 Å — Quiet corona |
304 Å — Chromosphere |
 94 Å — Flaring regions |
 HMI — Magnetic field |
Build a time-lapse from any date range. Set start/end times, choose your interval (30 min → 6 hrs) and resolution, then hit Fetch Frames.
- Frames load concurrently with live status indicators
- Full playback: play/pause, step, scrubber, FPS control
- Export PNG — download any single frame at full resolution
- Export GIF — encode the full animation client-side and download
Per-wavelength cards with temperature, solar feature description, and false-color explanation. Includes a live collapsible NOAA Solar Activity Discussion for current space weather.
No install, no build step — just a static site.
git clone https://github.com/decoher3nce/sdo-solar-explorer.git
cd sdo-solar-explorer
python3 -m http.server 3000Then open http://localhost:3000.
The only external dependency is gif.js, loaded from CDN at runtime for GIF export.
A live build of this repo is hosted at sdo-solar-explorer.onrender.com.
This repo includes render.yaml for automatic static site configuration.
- Push the repo to your GitHub account
- Go to dashboard.render.com → New + → Static Site
- Connect your repo — Render auto-reads
render.yaml - Click Create Static Site — live in ~30 seconds
Manual settings (if skipping render.yaml): Build command: (empty), Publish directory:
.
sdo-solar-explorer/
├── index.html # App structure and markup
├── styles.css # Dark space theme, CSS variables, responsive layout
├── app.js # SolarExplorer class — all app logic
├── render.yaml # Render static site deployment config
└── docs/
└── screenshots/ # Solar images used in this README
| Source | What it provides |
|---|---|
| NASA SDO / Helioviewer API | Solar imagery — no API key required, full archive from 2010 |
| NOAA SWPC | Live solar activity discussion text |
- Vanilla HTML, CSS, JS — no framework, no build step, no npm
- gif.js — client-side animated GIF encoding via Web Workers
- Render — static site hosting
MIT
Solar imagery courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.