(The left image from ESA/NASA’s SOHO was captured from Earth’s perspective while the right image from NASA’s STEREO was captured from the far side of the sun – Photo Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/STEREO)
NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory witnessed a dramatic solar eruption on August 24th, despite one of its “eyes” being partially closed.
This imagery of the recent coronal mass ejection, a giant explosion of solar material that explodes out into space, was captured by one of STEREO’s two spacecraft, STEREO-B, which currently has a view of the far side of the sun.
However, the second spacecraft, STEREO-A, is temporarily only recording low-resolution data due to an orbit that has moved the vehicle towards the other side of the sun from Earth. STEREO-A is now pointed slightly away from the bright heat of the star, but this has placed it into a position that isn’t pointed directly at Earth. Its signal still comes to Earth but is fainter, so the spacecraft will be sharing only low-resolution data until it reemerges on the other side of the sun in early 2016.
Luckily, STEREO B’s images, as well as photographs from near-Earth spacecrafts like the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, create amazing pictures, like the one above, which help scientists understand the three-dimensional shape of the sun’s brilliant CME eruptions.
You can view a time-lapse of the solar flare below:
[Video Credit: NASA]
The Solar System & Beyond 