NASA's two nearly identical spacecraft have begun returning images of the sun's corona, the U.S. media reported Wednesday.

The two spacecraft are supposed to study the most energetic events on the surface and in the lower atmosphere of the sun, as well as their travel through interplanetary space.

Data from spacecraft will enable scientists to form the first ever three-dimensional views of the sun, providing a new perspective on Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

CMEs are violent explosions on the surface of the sun that can propel up to 10 billion tons of the sun's atmosphere -- at a million miles an hour -- out through the corona and into space.

The two spacecraft were launched together on a Delta-II on Oct. 25, 2006, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The two spacecraft flew on different trajectories: one is in an orbit "ahead" of the Earth in its journey around the sun, and the other "behind" our planet as it makes its yearly revolution. The first images are from the "ahead" spacecraft.

Editor: Yan