STEREO Shows Us the Rotating Sun

tags: , ,

NASA just released a streaming video of the Sun, captured by the twin STEREO spacecraft. The video, in Quicktime format, features 2.5 days of the Sun, and shows it slowly rotating, with solar prominences blasting out into space.

The series of images were captured by STEREO from August 16-18, 2007, and then stitched together into a single animation. The prominences that you see on the edges of the Sun were captured in extreme ultraviolet light by the Ahead spacecraft (the one leading the Earth in orbit). And if you watch right to the end, you'll see a prominence on the upper side arch away into space.

Or go here to watch the video.

More like this

Summer around here must be coming to a close. The temperature has dropped and the kids are going back to school. Strangely, these circumstances have gotten me thinking more about the sun, rather than less. I blame my son...
So, back in November, I bought a new car, which came with a six-month free trial of Sirius Satellite Radio. That's about to run out, and while it does have its good points, I'm not really interested in paying money to listen to the radio.
Ever see a picture of a Solar Prominence before? If you have, you'll recognize these loop-like features leaving the Sun's surface and ending up in the Sun's corona: