spacetoday.net: Spacecraft provides 3-D images of the Sun

Spacecraft provides 3-D images of the Sun

Posted: Wed, Apr 25, 2007, 8:02 AM ET (1202 GMT)
STEREO 3-D image of the Sun (NASA)

A pair of NASA spacecraft launched last year have provided scientists with the first "three-dimensional" images of the Sun, thanks to their unique vantage points. The twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft were launched last October and, after a lunar flyby in January, entered separate orbits, one ahead of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, and the other trailing. NASA released on Monday the first images taken by the two spacecraft, which, when combined, create a 3-D view of the Sun because of their different viewing angles. Scientists hope to use the 3-D images from STEREO to better track matter and energy flows on the Sun and improve space weather forecasts.