Article Posted on : - Feb 07, 2011

NASA has released the first three-dimensional images of the entire Sun. Photo: NASA

WASHINGTON (BNS): NASA's twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft STEREO A and B moved into position on opposite sides of the sun and broadcast the first ever three-dimensional images of the entire sun.

"For the first time ever, we can watch solar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory," Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC, said in a NASA release.

"This is a big moment in solar physics. STEREO has revealed the sun as it really is--a sphere of hot plasma and intricately woven magnetic fields," he added.

Researchers have combined the two views of the sun to create a sphere.

STEREO's telescopes are tuned to four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet radiation selected to trace key aspects of solar activity such as flares, tsunamis and magnetic filaments.

NOAA is already using 3D STEREO models of CMEs (billion-ton clouds of plasma ejected by the sun) to improve space weather forecasts for airlines, power companies, satellite operators, and other customers. The full sun view should improve those forecasts even more.

Researchers say these first-look whole sun images are just a hint of what's to come. Movies with even higher resolution and more action will be released in the days and weeks ahead as more data are processed.