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The Sun is constantly roiling with nuclear heat and intense magnetism that make sunspots, flares, coronal mass ejections, and all sorts of space weather. When directed toward Earth, those solar blasts can disrupt satellite and radio communications, damage our electric-powered tools and toys, and create auroras. But it is not always easy to know when the Sun is spitting plasma and energy in our direction. This is why NASA launched the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, in October 2006. The orbit of STEREO-A (ahead) is slightly closer to the Sun and moving faster than Earth; the STEREO-B (behind) orbit is slightly farther from the Sun and moving a little slower than our planet. This image shows the surface of the Sun on October 14, 2012, from STEREO-A, , which was more than 90 degrees ahead of STEREO-B; that is, somewhat beyond a right angle from that vertical stripe. The vertical stripe shows up as a large loop stretching into the solar atmosphere, or corona.
