STEREO-twins will show earthmen the invisible Sun

This project should be named Surround or is somehow even more intricate. In fact such solid organization - NASA, such fancy idea - to consider our star from different directions, even with invisible. And thus such banal name - STEREO... But, anyhow, the project has begun activity in space.

So, STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, it it is literally - " the observatory of is solar-terrestrial interactions ") is a pair the next satellites which have gone on October, 26th from a cape Canaveral in Florida on an earth orbit. And, that is interesting, at once together.

This project which has become by result of close cooperation NASA, laboratories of applied physics of university of John Hopkins (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) and Goddard Space Flight Center, is directed on research of the Sun.
The main scientific interest, for the sake of which all it do, - crown lets. About one of the largest such events we somehow told, and you, should be, already know, that such flash can appear for astronauts fatally dangerous.

And so, there is nothing surprising that vehicles have sent right now: in fact the new cycle of solar activity has already begun, and to astrophysics now is what to research.
Satellites have been constructed almost one year ago. Originally them planned to send into an orbit in the end of summer. However design defects in one of missile stages have forced to transfer start all over again on the middle of September, and after - on the end of October.

One of the main problems because of whom the solar astrophysics could not receive a full picture, consists that both earth observers, and orbital satellites can see our star only from one point, receiving the flat image.

Basically, a volumetric kind to receive not difficultly - owing to some displacement of an orbital observatory it is possible to glance for an edge of the solar disc, and the Sun rotates, showing all surface.

Problem, however, that all these images, which scientists received earlier, showed the Sun during each moment of time only on the one hand, and another remained inaccessible to the observer.

To find out about that occurs on the invisible party, it was possible only by means of indirect methods.

And here for obtaining simultaneous pictures of a heavenly body from the different parties experts have thought up satellites STEREO (for difference they are named simplly with " observatory A " and " observatory B "), each of which sees only the "" part of the image. But both of them are synchronized, and from each of them it is possible to make a three-dimensional picture of two bidimentional images.

That the image was volumetric enough, both observatories move around of the Earth on the extended elliptical orbits. To carry them in space of scientists have conceived by means of a gravitational field of moon.