NASA's STEREO Mission Shows First 3D Images of the Sun

According to a September 14th NASA press release, NASA's Solar Extraterrestrial Relations Satellite Observatory (STEREO), which has two satellites in orbit around the Sun, is providing the United States with the first three-dimensional view of the sun. This view has been captured into a film co-directed and produced by Melissa R. Butts. The other co-director was Barry Kimm, and the executive producers were Ed Capelle and Mark Kresser. The film called 3dSun is a production of Melrae Pictures, and associated with K2 communications.

The two satellites were launched on a Delta II Rocket by NASA from the United States Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida in October of 2006, and will orbit the sun for another year after this year. Part of the mission of the two satellites, collectively known as the STEREO satellites, is to provide the United States with information about coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Scientists are interested in how CMEs originate, how they evolve and how they affect the solar system. Hopefully, the STEREO mission will provide some answers for these topics of interests. Coronal mass ejections, when directed toward Earth, provide a billion ton's worth of interruption to Earth's communication and power systems. Another effect of the CMEs is brilliant lights seen at the Northern and Southern poles of the Earth when the powerful eruptions occur.

A spokesperson at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. , Lika Guhathakurta was quoted in the press release as saying: "If we took you any closer to the Sun, you would overheat."

In addition to its exciting three dimensional, high definition presentation of the CMEs, the 3D Sun film explains the importance of CMEs, how knowledge about them will provide scientists with information on space weather, on how to predict severe weather problems in space and also on how to lessen CMEs' disruption to events and systems on Earth. The film had its premier showing in Jersey City, New Jersey at the Liberty Science Center digital 3d theater, and has been playing since September 7th, 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts at the Boston Museum of Science.