NASA Gives you a 360-Degree View of the Sun

Looks like NASA has an eye for the Solar System. Well that’s quite an understatement looking at the fact that they are meant to conduct space research programs. Anyway, while the Hubble has been busy spotting far-off galaxies, NASA’s twin STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft has managed to capture a full view of the sun.

Now that’s STEREO-scopic vision!

According to FoxNews, the twin STEREO spacecraft had aligned exactly opposite each other around the sun to snap our light-giving star. Thanks to this, scientists can now study complicated solar weather patterns as well as plan for future space missions in the solar system. NASA’s SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) mission contributed by taking high-res pictures of the sun from the orbit.

Violent eruptions from the surface of the sun can damage satellites, mess up the communications and can set-back the power systems on Earth. These images can help scientists study these eruptions as well as space weather.

While STEREO was launched in October 2006, SDO is the first mission of NASA’s Living with a Star program and was launched last year in February. The STEREO satellites are offset from one another, with one flying ahead and the other flying behind planet Earth.

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