The STEREO space mission has two spacecraft. Each spacecraft has a different view of the Sun. Scientists can put together pictures from the two different viewing angles. They can make 3D views of the Sun and of space weather "storms" this way.
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Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) Space Mission
STEREO is a NASA
space mission to study the Sun. STEREO stands for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory. STEREO also studies huge space weather storms from the Sun called Coronal Mass Ejections (CME).
STEREO blasted off in October 2006. There are actually two STEREO spacecraft that are pretty much twins. After launch, the two spacecraft flew by the Moon on slightly different paths. The Moon's gravity changed the directions the spacecraft. One was flung forward along Earth's orbit around the Sun. The other spacecraft was steered backward along Earth's orbit.
You can see things in 3D because you have two eyes that are a little bit apart. The two STEREO spacecraft can see the Sun and CMEs in 3D because STEREO's "eyes" (the cameras on the two spacecraft) are far apart. Scientists can combine pictures from the two STEREO spacecraft to create 3D stereoscopic images of the Sun.
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