NASA has done it again. Yesterday, Sunday, Feb. 6th, NASA released online of the first complete, panoramic view of the the whole sun, front and back simultaneously, the entire surface and atmosphere. The are pictures in stereo? and in 3-D. They were taken by the twin Solar TErrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The crafts are on diametrically opposite sides of the sun, one hundred eighty degrees apart. One is ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind.
Why are these 3-D images of the sun important? Because they will help in forecasting solar weather: the development of intense magnetic activity on the sun, which produce sunspots, and the development of violent eruptions of solar matter, coronal loops, solar flares, and the coronal mass ejections, solar storms.
Solar storms, solar winds, sunspots disrupt Earth communications, navigation, satellites and power grids. What NASA learns from this project will help in space navigation in the solar system.
The NASA achievement is a good example of our tax dollars supporting excellent work
Item from ITN News -- "Two probes from Nasa's Stereo mission have beamed back the first ever 360-degree panoramic images of the Sun." See the video.