Explanation:
What does the Sun look like in all three spatial dimensions?
To find out,
NASA launched two
STEREO satellites
to perceive three dimensions on the Sun much like two eyes allow
humans to
perceive three dimensions
on the Earth.
Such a perspective is designed to allow new insight into the surface of the
rapidly changing Sun,
allowing humans to better understand and predict things like
Coronal Mass Ejections
and solar flares
that affect the Earth as well as satellites and astronauts orbiting the Earth.
Pictured above are two simultaneous images of the Sun taken by STEREO A and
STEREO B, now digitally combined to give one of the
first 3-D pictures of the Sun ever taken.
To fully appreciate the image, one should view it with
3-D red-blue glasses.
The teeming and
bubbling solar surface can be seen sporting a
prominent solar prominence
near the top of the image.
