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"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...



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


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


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!


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


How about the first sentence from the press release:

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




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