WEBVTT

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Intro music.

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In December 2004, NASA and the European Space Agency's SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory,

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or SOHO, celebrated nine years of service in monitoring the Sun.

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SOHO's studies include the Sun's hot interior, its visible surface, stormy atmosphere

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and solar wind.

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We study the Sun to better understand this dynamic star, because strong solar storms

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can disrupt communications, damage satellites and harm astronauts in space.

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Sunspot activity was very high in the fall of 2003, causing massive coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.

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During these events, billions of tons of electrically charged particles

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exploded from the Sun at speeds of more than 1,200 miles per second.

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SOHO was able to transmit advance warning about these electromagnetic storms well ahead of their arrival.

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With this information, astronauts orbiting in the International Space Station

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were advised to move to a part of the Space Station for protection from possible exposure to electromagnetic radiation.

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Originally designed to to observe the Sun's antics for about two years, SOHO has been so successful

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that scientists are expecting to receive valuable data from the observatory until 2007.

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