New Satellites Give Scientists 360 View of the Sun

Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory

Scientists have studied our sun more than any other star in the Universe and have learned a great deal about what makes it tick. The more they have learned about the sun, the more complex they have come to understand the internal processes in our star to be.

A pair of research satellites, launched in 2006, is now in a position to give NASA scientists a continuous 360 degree view of the sun. The new perspective creates the opportunity to more fully understand the complex internal processes, as well as an enhanced ability to forecast how solar events, detected on the far side of the sun, may eventually move to the near side to have an impact on us here on the Earth.

Solar activity, especially in the form of solar flares, or as they are properly known, Coronal Mass Ejections, can have a dramatic impact on our power grid and our satellites used for television and telephone communications, and GPS navigation used by aircraft. The flares can also present a significant danger to astronauts in the Space Shuttle or the International Space Station, as the events blast vast amounts of high energy particles away from the sun.

The satellites, known as the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, will both help predict, and alert us about, hazardous events on the sun, and will also help us better understand the very nature of our closest star.