About STEREO spacecraft:
- The pair of STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft were launched on October 25, 2006, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
- The two spacecraft were situated in Sun’s orbit, STEREO-A (“Ahead”) and STEREO-B (“Behind”).
- The dual-spacecraft mission accomplished its major goal by delivering the first-ever stereoscopic view of our star.
- On February 6, 2011, another significant milestone was achieved as both STEREO-A and -B reached a remarkable 180-degree separation in their orbits, which gave us the full sphere image of the Sun.
- Significance of STEREO-A
- It will synthesize its views with those from Nasa’s and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
- Its distance from Earth changes throughout the flyby, it will optimize its stereo vision for different-sized solar features at different times, akin to adjusting the focus on a several million-mile-wide telescope.
- It will allow scientists to understand how a coronal mass ejection’s (CME) magnetic field evolves on its way to Earth.
Q1) What is the heliosphere?
The heliosphere is a vast region of space surrounding the Sun where the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun, interacts with the interstellar medium, which is the tenuous gas and dust that exists between stars in our galaxy.
Source: Spacecraft prepares for rare Earth flyby 17 years after it left planet
Last updated on July, 2025
→ UPSC Notification 2025 was released on 22nd January 2025.
→ UPSC Prelims Result 2025 is out now for the CSE held on 25 May 2025.
→ UPSC Prelims Question Paper 2025 and Unofficial Prelims Answer Key 2025 are available now.
→ UPSC Calendar 2026 is released on 15th May, 2025.
→ The UPSC Vacancy 2025 were released 1129, out of which 979 were for UPSC CSE and remaining 150 are for UPSC IFoS.
→ UPSC Mains 2025 will be conducted on 22nd August 2025.
→ UPSC Prelims 2026 will be conducted on 24th May, 2026 & UPSC Mains 2026 will be conducted on 21st August 2026.
→ The UPSC Selection Process is of 3 stages-Prelims, Mains and Interview.
→ UPSC Result 2024 is released with latest UPSC Marksheet 2024. Check Now!
→ UPSC Toppers List 2024 is released now. Shakti Dubey is UPSC AIR 1 2024 Topper.
→ Also check Best IAS Coaching in Delhi