First-ever images of the entire Sun

Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by colomon on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:19AM (#2188409)

"This is a big moment in solar physics," says Vourlidas. "STEREO has revealed the sun as it really is--a sphere of hot plasma and intricately woven magnetic fields."

Is it just me, or does that sound suspiciously like it is from an Onion article? I mean, it's very cool (and presumably useful) to have a full-time 360 view of the sun. But I'm pretty sure the idea the sun is a sphere of hot plasma is not startlingly new information...

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Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by mcantor on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:20AM (#2188963)

Besides; everyone knows that the sun is a mass of incandescent gas. (A gigantic nuclear furnace.)

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Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by bena on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:59AM (#2189088)

Actually, it's a miasma of incandescent plasma (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA).

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Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by tialys on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:41AM (#2189025)

The point is, for the first time in human history, we can see by direct observation that the sun is in fact a sphere. It's not huge in the sense that "We were right!", but rather that wow... now we can actually see it!

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Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by MichaelGG on Monday February 07, 2011 @10:28AM (#2189209)

I suppose that depends on your definition of "direct".

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Re:First-ever images of the entire Sun by bellaire on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:11AM (#2188932)

How about the first sentence from the press release:

    "It's official: The sun is a sphere."

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