April 23rd, 2007 U.S. SPACECRAFT GIVE SUN A CAT SCAN
A pair of NASA space probes has captured images of the Sun in three dimensions. The U.S. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced today that the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) platforms have successfully transmitted 3D images back to earth that display the Sun's atmosphere. The new view will improve space weather forecasting and greatly aid scientists' ability to understand solar physics, a JPL team said in a press conference in Pasadena, Calif.
The two STEREO observatories took the images from different angles to the Sun, one from a point in space ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind. NASA computers then processed the incoming data to create the 3D pictures. The results (presented on the NASA lab's Web site) depict the 3D structure of mass ejections—violent eruptions of matter from the Sun that can disrupt satellites and power grids—in the solar corona. NASA hopes the new images can help researchers understand why these events occur.
"The improvement with STEREO's 3D view is like going from a regular X-ray to a 3D CAT scan in the medical field," said Michael Kaiser, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md.
Launched last October, the twin probes flew a complex path, using the Moon's gravitation for leverage, to reach their positions in orbit around the Sun, in proximity to Earth's own. The separation between them, approximately 45 degrees per year, enables the observatories to relay the data they capture stereoscopically.
The 3D images should allow earthbound analysts to study the corona, which is composed of billowing clouds of superhot plasma, in much greater detail. Because the ejected plumes are controlled by the Sun's tangled magnetic fields, it is difficult for scientists to tell which structures are in front and which are behind, according to the space agency.
"In the solar atmosphere, there are no clues to help us judge distance. Everything appears flat in the 2D plane of the sky. Having a stereo perspective just makes it so much easier," said Russell Howard of the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, D.C., who serves as the principal investigator for the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation suite of telescopes on the spacecraft.
"With STEREO's 3D imagery, we'll be able to discern where matter and energy flows in the solar atmosphere much more precisely than with the 2D views available before," Howard noted. "This will really help us understand the complex physics going on."
The solar orbiting 3D imaging system is a remarkable achievement for NASA's scientists and engineers. And though they did not use the word, the pictures they have captured of the Sun in action are truly "cool."
Comments
Maybe, just maybe this fella has something to do with global warming. Maybe just maybe we think we're more important than we are.
U.S. SPACECRAFT GIVE SUN A CAT SCAN
A pair of NASA space probes has captured images of the Sun in three dimensions. The U.S. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced today that the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) platforms have successfully transmitted 3D images back to earth that display the Sun's atmosphere. The new view will improve space weather forecasting and greatly aid scientists' ability to understand solar physics, a JPL team said in a press conference in Pasadena, Calif.
The two STEREO observatories took the images from different angles to the Sun, one from a point in space ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind. NASA computers then processed the incoming data to create the 3D pictures. The results (presented on the NASA lab's Web site) depict the 3D structure of mass ejections—violent eruptions of matter from the Sun that can disrupt satellites and power grids—in the solar corona. NASA hopes the new images can help researchers understand why these events occur.
"The improvement with STEREO's 3D view is like going from a regular X-ray to a 3D CAT scan in the medical field," said Michael Kaiser, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md.
Launched last October, the twin probes flew a complex path, using the Moon's gravitation for leverage, to reach their positions in orbit around the Sun, in proximity to Earth's own. The separation between them, approximately 45 degrees per year, enables the observatories to relay the data they capture stereoscopically.
The 3D images should allow earthbound analysts to study the corona, which is composed of billowing clouds of superhot plasma, in much greater detail. Because the ejected plumes are controlled by the Sun's tangled magnetic fields, it is difficult for scientists to tell which structures are in front and which are behind, according to the space agency.
"In the solar atmosphere, there are no clues to help us judge distance. Everything appears flat in the 2D plane of the sky. Having a stereo perspective just makes it so much easier," said Russell Howard of the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, D.C., who serves as the principal investigator for the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation suite of telescopes on the spacecraft.
"With STEREO's 3D imagery, we'll be able to discern where matter and energy flows in the solar atmosphere much more precisely than with the 2D views available before," Howard noted. "This will really help us understand the complex physics going on."
The solar orbiting 3D imaging system is a remarkable achievement for NASA's scientists and engineers. And though they did not use the word, the pictures they have captured of the Sun in action are truly "cool."