STEREO Sees the Farside of the Sun, Feb. 2011!!

I was browsing through NASA's STEREO website today and came across this amazing and interesting illustration of were STEREO will be in February 2011.

LINK TO STEREO

Illustration of the positions of the two STEREO spacecraft show that they attain 180 degrees of separation in Feb. 2011, thus allowing the world to see the entire Sun for the first time

So for the first time we will be able to see the entire Sun! Will be interesting to see the images of the Sun in february.

reply to post by boo1981

To clarify -- you mean seeing the entire Sun at one time (using two spacecraft 180 degrees apart).

We can already see the whole Sun -- but it takes about 30 days time to see it all. The sun rotates once every 27 days, on average. I say "one average" because different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds.

But this will be the first time that we can see it all at one time.

still a giant ball of fire?

yep...still a giant ball of fire.

sweet. just checkin

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
reply to post by boo1981

 

To clarify -- you mean seeing the entire Sun at one time (using two spacecraft 180 degrees apart).

We can already see the whole Sun -- but it takes about 30 days time to see it all. The sun rotates once every 27 days, on average. I say "one average" because different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds.

But this will be the first time that we can see it all at one time.

Ooops my mistake, that is what I ment to say. Silly me.
Thanks for pointing that out

Just a quick reminder that on February 6th 2011 NASA STEREO will see the dark side of the Sun!

NASA Sees the Dark Side of The Sun

STEREO's deployment on opposite sides of the Sun solves a problem that has vexed astronomers for centuries: At any given moment they can see only half of the stellar surface. The Sun spins on its axis once every 25 days, so over the course of a month the whole Sun does turn to face Earth, but a month is not nearly fast enough to keep track of events. Sunspots can materialize, explode, and regroup in a matter of days; coronal holes open and close; magnetic filaments stretch tight and—snap!—they explode, hurling clouds of hot gas into the solar system. Fully half of this action is hidden from view, a fact which places space weather forecasters in an awkward position. How can you anticipate storms when you can't see them coming? Likewise researchers cannot track the long-term evolution of sunspots or the dynamics of magnetic filaments because they keep ducking over the horizon at inconvenient times. STEREO's global view will put an end to these difficulties.

So another astronomical date for your diary 06/02/2011

We could be set to see some very interesting images if the Sun is active at this time.

Well only 11 days to go.
I find this to be quite interesting as there has been alot of activity on the dark side of the Sun lately. So I'm hoping that the Sun is active on this date as it will make for some interesting images.

Well we have only 2 days left.
Lets hope the dark side of the Sun has something to show us on the 5th Feb.

can't wait to see it. thanks for bringing this up on ATS. love news like this. seems like nasa is doing some cool stuff lately ^^

reply to post by totalmetal


Yes indeed, i couldn't agree more. I just had to keep bumping this thread as not many people seem to find it interesting.

We always here about the dark side of the Sun spewing out flares and cme's, so now we can see whats going on behind there and on the Earth facing side all at once.

When ever i visit spaceweather i always see things like "there was an eruption on the far side of the Sun" Now on the 5th Feb we will be able to see it (hopefully the Sun is active then)

Will have to give this another bump as the 5th with be upon us tomorrow.

Second line

Just came across this on www.spaceweather.com... .

February 6, 2011: It's official: The sun is a sphere.

On Feb. 6th, NASA's twin STEREO probes moved into position on opposite sides of the sun, and they are now beaming back uninterrupted images of the entire star—front and back.

"For the first time ever, we can watch solar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory," says Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC.

NASA released a 'first light' 3D movie on, naturally, Super Bowl Sun-day:

"This is a big moment in solar physics," says Vourlidas. "STEREO has revealed the sun as it really is--a sphere of hot plasma and intricately woven magnetic fields."

The article can be found here: science.nasa.gov...