Solar Observatory Launch

NASA announced early Wednesday morning that they were delaying the launch of a new Solar Dynamics Observatory by at least one day.

The new observatory was scheduled for launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 10:26 am on Wednesday morning, but due to unfavorable weather conditions, which contained large gusts of wind, the launch had to be delayed until Thursday.

Initially, NASA delayed the launch only one hour, but since conditions did not improve they felt the full day delay was beneficial. The launch was called off just minutes prior to the launch.

NASA is now hoping to launch the observatory on Thursday at about 10:30 am Easter time.

The new Solar Dynamics Observatory will rotate the every 24 hours and will take pictures of outer space, and most notably of sunspots and solar flares. Scientists hope that they images sent back will help them understand the factors that lead to the Sun’s activity cycles.

By understanding the Sun’s cycles, many scientists believe we will have a better understanding of how the sun affects satellite signals and energy transmissions on earth.

The new Solar Dynamics Observatory will be unmanned and will be up orbiting the earth for at least a five year period.