3-D images put NASA up close with sun

In a now classic interview, British prankster Sacha Baron Cohen asked Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, if one day a human being might step foot on . . . the sun.

The flabbergasted former astronaut responded no because, first of all, it's really, really hot there -- 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core.

Suggested Cohen: "We could go in da' winter, when it's colder."

Astronomers love that Ali G joke. It reminds them there's still a lot to be taught -- and learned -- about that big, ol' burning ball in the sky.

Scientists say they are making progress on both fronts. On Monday, NASA released the first 3-D images of the sun -- pictures showing solar explosions that can cause electrical power blackouts and scramble airline communication on Earth.

Through the 3-D images, taken by a pair of unmanned, golf cart-sized spacecraft, astronomers hope to better forecast solar activity, said Therese Kucera, an Evanston native who is serving as deputy project scientist for the NASA effort.
Air travelers may benefit
Speaking to school groups Monday at the Adler Planetarium, Kucera explained that for every question scientific advancement answers, it raises "10 more."

"There's still a lot to learn about the sun," she said.

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft, launched in October 2006 for a two-year, $500 million multination mission, will help. The three-dimensional images the ships are producing will better help calculate movement, distance and speed of the stormy clouds of electrically charged particles that can foul up technology on Earth, some 93 million miles away.

The storms can change the voltage in power lines, overheating transformers and blowing out electrical service. Knowing such trouble is coming, energy companies may enable parts of power grids to be temporarily disconnected, said Kucera.

Jet pilots can avoid sun-related radio communication problems by altering routes away from the Earth's poles, she added.

The daughter of a chemist, Kucera, 41, became interested in astronomy as a student at Evanston Township High School. Regular visits to the Adler furthered her curiosity. She went on to earn a doctorate in astrophysics and has worked with NASA for 13 years, currently at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

As a kid, "I'd read astronomy books and think, 'This is the neatest stuff,'" she said.