**The US space agency (Nasa) will attempt to launch its latest Sun probe on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.**The Solar Dynamics Observatory will acquire detailed images of our star to try to get a keener understanding of why it behaves the way it does.
When the Sun throws billions of tonnes of charged particles towards the Earth, it can disrupt communications, satellite and power systems.
Scientists want to see if they can forecast this “space weather” better.
SDO will assist this drive by investigating the physics at work inside, on the surface and in the atmosphere of the Sun.
Its instruments will return images with a resolution 10 times better than the average high-definition television camera, and those pictures will come back at a rapid rate, every three-quarters of a second.
The UK is involved through the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot; the e2v company in Chelmsford which made CCD camera detectors, the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in London; and the University of Sheffield.