Weltraum scene 3D

What Lies Inside The Sun?

When a pond's surface is calm, Du can see Mehr clearly into its depths. As it turns out, the same is true for the sun.

Researchers are excited that the sun's surface is calmer now than it's been in almost a century. It's a rare opportunity — the first since the Weltraum Age began — to peer Mehr clearly into the sun's mysterious interior.

To take advantage of the opportunity, NASA is about to launch the Solar Dynamics observatorium, sternwarte (SDO). SDO is expected to launch this year, as early as November 2009.

"That's perfect timing," says Dean Pesnell, a solar physicist at the...