First Ever 360 Degree View Image of the Sun

The panoramic picture of the sun at the top of this page constitutes the first ever 360-degree view taken of the entire sun. NASA's twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory space probes aligned exactly opposite each other on opposite sides of the Sun to take the image.

Both of the so-called STEREO probes got launched in 2006, traveling in opposite directions. The goal was to get as wide as possible view of the Sun to generate a 3D view. That combined 290 million mile journey has now given scientists a unique view of the solar surface.

Writing in Discover, astronomer Phil Plait noted that unlike the Earth's moon, the Sun doesn't have permanent far side.

"The Moon spins once for every time it goes around the Earth, so it appears like the same face is always toward us. But the Sun rotates once about every 24.5 days. During that time, the Earth has moved 1/15th of the way around its orbit, so the Sun has to spin a little more to "catch up" with the Earth -- another 1.7 days. So over the course of about a month we see the entire surface of the Sun."

All throughout that period, the Sun is changing - Plait describes it as "a seething, writhing ball of plasma (ionized gas)." Until now, if there was a solar event on one side of the Sun, we wouldn't know about it for at least another week when the star's rotation offered a view - assuming that it still remained the same or had not disappeared. Scientists no longer labor under that handicap.

You can find out more about how the probes work in this NASA video.