{"id":4087,"date":"2011-02-04T16:30:59","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T23:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/2011\/02\/04\/stereo-spacecraft-at-solar-opposition-this-weekend\/"},"modified":"2011-02-04T16:30:59","modified_gmt":"2011-02-04T23:30:59","slug":"stereo-spacecraft-at-solar-opposition-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/2011\/02\/04\/stereo-spacecraft-at-solar-opposition-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"STEREO Spacecraft at Solar Opposition This Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why would that be significant? Well, it would allow for a full 4PI (360×360°) view of the sun. The animated movie of the sun on STEREO’s Website<\/a> currently has a gap in the coverage of the sun. The spacecraft are in a heliocentric orbit drifting away from the Earth, one leading and one lagging. This diagram shows the current position<\/a> of spacecraft A (ahead) and B (behind). The scale is in astronomical units, the average distance between the earth and sun.<\/p>\n

Sun-monitoring instrumentation on spacecraft like SOHO and STEREO have gone a long way in discovering what makes the sun behave in mysterious ways. Also, the data coming back (when not intentionally distorted by the IPCC<\/a>, the CRU<\/a> or NASA’s James Hansen<\/a>) can be used to chart the relationship between solar activity and global climate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

whereis.jpg<\/p>\n

NOTE: This is the second posting of this article (the original article posted June 16, 2010<\/a>) because the actual opposition will take place this weekend on Sunday, February 6, 2011. I updated the position graphic for Ahead<\/em> and Behind<\/em> and added a NASA STEREO Teaser Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n