Sun - STEREO - No Fill Rotating (4 mb)

Real-Time Sun Observations from STEREO

Description:

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, STEREO, which consists of two satellites, was launched in October 2006. The two satellites are on a path similar to Earth's orbit, with one satellite ahead of Earth and one satellite behind Earth in orbit. The satellites, named STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind, are slowly drifting further a part, keeping Earth between them. As they drift further from the Earth, they are able to provide a view of the sun that cannot be seen from Earth. For the first time, the sides and eventually the backside of the sun will be visible with the STEREO satellites. Each of the satellites is equipped with a suite of instruments for observing and studying the sun. This new view of the sun will allow scientists to observe the structure and evolution of solar storms like never before.

In this real-time dataset, imagery from STEREO Behind and STEREO Ahead are morphed together to provide near full coverage of the sun. The images for this dataset were taken with the EUVI telescope in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength. In order to keep all of the various wavelengths straight, scientists color the different wavelengths. The 195A wavelength used here is arbitrarily colored green. In this wavelength, the brighter areas are hotter and the darker areas are cooler. The bright, active regions are where solar storms are likely to originate. In these areas, hot plasma from the sun is trapped in the sun's magnetic field. A solar flare is an explosion that occurs when the energy trapped in the magnetic field is suddenly released. Solar flares can cause Coronal Mass Ejections, CME, which are outflows of plasma from the sun that can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth. The dark areas that can be seen are called coronal holes, and are areas where the plasma is able to escape because the magnetic field is open. There are four different versions of this dataset. Two versions leave the backside of the sun that is not visible by satellite blank and the other two versions fill in the gap with persistence data showing the last available imagery. Within each of those versions, there is one dataset that shows the solar rotation relative to the Earth and another dataset that has the solar rotation frozen. The angle shown in the label is the angle between the satellites.

Sun - STEREO - No Fill Rotating

Sun - STEREO - Gap Fill Rotating

Notable Features:

• The bright, active regions are where solar storms are likely to originate
• Two versions leave the backside of the sun that is not visible blank and the other two versions fill in the gap with old data
• The angle shown in the label is the angle between the satellites

Data Category

Astronomy

Keywords:

Solar System, sun, stereo, real-time