APOD: Sun 360: STEREO Captures Views of... (2011 Feb 07)

[APOD Robot]

Sun 360: STEREO Captures Views of the Entire Sun

Explanation: For the first time, the entire Sun is being imaged all at once. This has become possible because the two STEREO satellites orbiting and monitoring the Sun are now on opposite sides of the Sun. The two satellites have been drifting apart, as expected, since their launch in 2006, since one satellite orbits slightly closer to the Sun than the other. The above image shows nearly the entire Sun as it appeared one day last week, a few days before maximum exposure. Yesterday, the dark gap in the center closed completely, and STEREO was able to beam back to Earth full 360 degree images of the closest star. Full solar images are useful scientifically for a number of reasons, including catching rapidly evolving flares, coronal mass ejections, tsunamis, and filaments, no matter where they occur on the Sun, as well as monitoring days-long sunspots and active regions without losing them as they rotate out of view. Even though the STEREO satellites will continue to drift apart at about 44 degrees per year, Sun-staring instruments on or near the Earth will augment them to provide a full view of the Sun for the next several years.

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[neufer]

You can find the missing strip here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110206.html

[owlice]

Another APOD, another waking-up-the-cats-with-laughter moment!! Oh, what an unexpected, and funny, picture!!

Cool APOD, too, not just for the lol moment.

[bystander]

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 31&t=22853

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Beyond]

Cat glasses on a Puddy Tat What'll they think of next

[BelgianDummy]

How was this image transmitted back to Earth, from the other side of the sun? Is it possible to put a satelite in Lagrange point #3? And still transmit the data back?

[bystander]

How was this image transmitted back to Earth, from the other side of the sun? Is it possible to put a satelite in Lagrange point #3? And still transmit the data back?

They are not on the other side of the Sun. There are two of them, now 180^o apart. One 90^o Ahead of the Earth and the other 90^o Behind the Earth. Between them they have a full 360^o view of the Sun. Watch the video.

[BelgianDummy]

Sorry, I found the video only after I pushed the "submit" button. Thanks for the reply anyway.

[isoparix]

If this is supposed to be a view of the whole sun, what mapping projection is beng used? Is there an image somewhere that shows the long/lat lines? There are surely better ways of mapping the two hemispheres simultaneously - look at all the orojections developed for mapping the surface of the whole earth, eg http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjec ... tions.html

[nstahl]

If this is supposed to be a view of the whole sun, what mapping projection is beng used?

Ok I'm speculating here but I don't think that is an image of more than half the sun. The two satellites are off to the right and left, and by the missing strip the view is smeared because it's being observed almost tangentially. If the whole sun were mapped onto that circle the other side should be out on the circumference and smeared in the same way, but by the circumference the view is crisp, not smeared.

Hence, while the whole sun is visible to people with access to the STEREO data I don't think this picture includes the whole sun, just half of it. The half away from the earth apparently since the views were about to give full coverage over there.

[orin stepanek]

We can now see the far side of the Sun.

[BMAONE23]

So much for landing on the night side then

[neufer]

Sun 360: STEREO Captures Views of the Entire Sun

Yesterday, the dark gap in the center closed completely, and STEREO was able to beam back to Earth full 360 degree images of the closest star.

Maximum coverage of the Farside should occur in early 2013 (around the time of Solar Maximum).

[NoelC]

Very cool, er, hot stuff!

One has to wonder...

Why not equip the satellites with the means to accelerate / decelerate a bit so they could even out their orbits at 120 degree angles from one another and the Earth, so we'd have three long-term observational sites?

Limited lifespan of the Stereo satellites? Better observatories in the plans?

-Noel

[moonstruck]

So much for the sun is flat society

[neufer]

One has to wonder...

Why not equip the satellites with the means to accelerate / decelerate a bit so they could even out their orbits at 120 degree angles from one another and the Earth, so we'd have three long-term observational sites?

Limited lifespan of the Stereo satellites? Better observatories in the plans?

That would be my guess.

The Stereo satellites will view the Farside from now until 2019 covering much of the solar maximum time period.

NASA or some other country can provide a fancier spacecraft combo for the next solar maximum if the science from STEREO pans out.

[Irishman]

So when the caption says

The above image shows nearly the entire Sun as it appeared one day last week,

it really means something else. Like

"The above image shows the zone where the coverage on the far side of the Sun is almost closed."

Because that image does not show the "entire Sun". It only shows a hemisphere. Happens to be the far side hemisphere, but it's still only a hemisphere.

[NoelC]

I wondered about that and finally came to the conclusion that they must have at one point been intending to show a movie of the whole thing.

-Noel