News Planetary Science

Solar craft get into position

By Ron Cowen

- More than 2 years ago

With the assist of gravitational boosts from the moon, twin spacecraft in late January completed a series of maneuvers that will enable them to take three-dimensional images of the sun.

NEW DIMENSION. Like two eyeballs in space, the twin STEREO spacecraft will view the sun from differing perspectives, providing a three-dimensional map of solar disturbances. NASA

The pair of NASA craft, known together as STEREO (solar terrestrial relations observatory), was carried into space on a single rocket in October 2006 but then took different paths.