Spacecraft go to film Sun in 3D (BBC, NASA)

[eppur_se_muova]

US space agency Nasa has launched two spacecraft that are expected to make the first 3D movies of the Sun.
The Stereo mission will study violent eruptions from our parent star known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

The eruptions create huge clouds of energetic particles that can trigger magnetic storms, disrupting power grids and air and satellite communications.

The mission is expected to help researchers forecast magnetic storms - the worst aspects of "space weather".

"Coronal mass ejections are a main thrust of solar physics today," said Mike Kaiser, the Stereo project scientist at the US space agency's (Nasa) Goddard Space Flight Center.

"With Stereo, we want to understand how CMEs get started and how they move through the Solar System."
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more (including a video and more photos): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6076212.stm


Go STEREO! Go Delta!
NASA's STEREO mission got off to a spectacular start as the rocket carrying the twin satellites blazed through the starry sky after lifting off at 8:52 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Racing into space on the 12 flaming engines of a Boeing Delta II rocket, the spacecraft are on their way to investigating the origin of special solar storms erupting from the sun. Known as "coronal mass ejections," these storms travel at nearly 1 million mph and can knock out power on the ground. The rocket is delivering the STEREO spacecraft to opposite sides of Earth. There STEREO will map the structure of the storms in 3-D as they leave the sun and flow around the planet.
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mor: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

[Rick Myers]

1. Great. I can go blind in 3-D! (just kidding!)

Very cool. I work with 3d and stereo software frequently, and I love to see 3-D make progress...

[Oldtimeralso]

2. No one is going blind

because 'W" said to go at night! Just look at the picture.