Photos: NASA spacecraft set to monitor sun

Two nearly identical robotic spacecraft known as Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories (or Stereo), built to capture high-definition 3D images of the sun and solar wind were launched into space Wednesday night. The project will take the first-ever stereoscopic measurements of the sun's violent explosions, called coronal mass ejections.

Scientists believe that understanding solar storms will help them forecast weather in space and mitigate their negative effects on satellite operations, polar aviation, communication systems, power grids and astronauts in space.

The Stereo spacecraft made the trip aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Here, the rocket sits with its payload (the white nose of the ship) next to the launch gantry awaiting take-off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Photo by NASA/Kim Shiflett