NASA To Launch IRIS Solar Telescope To Sun; Probe May Solve Enduring Mystery [WATCH LIVE VIDEO]

A NASA telescope will launch in an attempt to discover how the sun heats the atmosphere around it.

A huge mystery surrounds the sun-literally. And NASA is trying to get to the bottom of it-or, well, within it. Scientists have been trying to understand how the sun is able to release energy and light rom its surface, which is relatively cool, into an atmosphere that is much hotter. The sun's surface is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the atmosphere is often up to 5 million degrees Fahrenheit.

The sun's core, of course, is much warmer than its surface, as is expected. Temperatures cool as energy travels outwards. But then, oddly, the lower atmosphere around the sun, known as the chromosphere, heats up again. Temperatures then peak around the corona, which is the sun's outer atmosphere.

The new the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, telescope may provide answers to this puzzle. The telescope will capture photos of light as it moves from the sun's surface to the chromosphere.

"Every time we look at the sun in more detail, it opens up a new window for us," said Jeffrey Newmark, a scientist at NASA.

Solar activity and solar storms can disrupt Earth's climate and outer space. Solar storms interfere with communications and navigation and, on Earth, sometimes knock out power grids and disrupt radio signals. The new NASA probe may solve questions about solar storms as well.

"We live in a very complex society and the sun has a role to play in it," said physicist Alan Title, with Lockheed Martin Space Systems, who designed and built the telescope.

The telescope, which will be about four feet long, will be launched via the Orbital Sciences Corp Pegasus Rocket on Friday at 10:27 p.m. EDT. It cost about $145 million and will last for two years.

The launch can be watched live here