NASA launches observatory to study the sun

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The most advanced solar observatory ever built rocketed into space today on a five-year quest to shed light on Earth's star.

It was NASA's second launch in four days. On Monday, Endeavour blasted off to the International Space Station.

The shuttle-station complex was orbiting over the Atlantic, near Africa, when the observatory shot into a cloudy wintry sky aboard an unmanned rocket, a day late.

At a cost of $856 million, the Solar Dynamics Observatory is the first mission in NASA's Living with a Star program.

Scientists want to better understand the violent activity on the sun that influences life on Earth. This so-called space weather can disrupt communications, knock out power and disable satellites, and endanger astronauts in orbit.

The spacecraft, nicknamed SDO, is designed to transmit unprecedented reams of data from an extremely high Earth orbit.

It should send back 150 million bits of data every second of every day, more than any other NASA Mission. That's equivalent to downloading 500,000 songs a day.