Stereo-B Warming Up

If these first test shots from NASA's Stereo-B satellite are any indication of what more is to come, the future is bright indeed. NASA's Stereo Satellite pair is now in orbit around the sun, both leading and lagging the earth in order to capture stereo views of solar activity.

The first official images are expected in April, but on the warm-up run, Stereo-B captured an amazing series of images of a lunar transit across the face of the sun. (Note that the moon looks smaller than a typical solar eclipse because Stereo-B is much farther from the moon than the earth, while at a similar distance from the sun.)

See the movie: small, medium or large.

All images courtesy of NASA. Click here for all the details.