Another link sent to me by secret agent Greg a few days ago. Its a space mission to send two probes in an orbit around the sun that will enable us to see the surface of it in 3D. On Earth you can’t do this very well because you can only get so far apart and when your at that maximum distance you have a whole lot of distorting air between you and your object of observation. Once these satellites are in place it will allow CME (coronal mass ejections) and other particle emission events with depth. Why is this a good thing? Well it will give us a much better chance of preparing for the problems that often occur when the sun has a little ‘gas’ and we all get washed with extra radiation. That can cause communications blackouts, power failures in big cities, satellites to die. And if your living in space or just visiting (think airline crews) it can be a health hazard. I for one can’t wait until images from these guys start showing up on Astronomy Picture of the Day.
