Stereo Options

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0511/14stereo/


The first spacecraft designed to capture 3-D "stereo" views of the sun and solar wind have been shipped from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md., for their next round of pre-launch tests.

http://www.stereo.jhuapl.edu/

[BPCooper]

And the launch has now been postponed to May 26.

[ljk4-1]

And the launch has now been postponed to May 26.

Launch is now set for June 24, 2006:

Spaceflight:

* NASA's STEREO Probes Weather Temperature Extremes

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/06013...reo_update.html

A set of spacecraft twins destined to stare at the Sun is alternately baking and
freezing in a preflight test.

[BPCooper]

Launch is now set for June 24, 2006:

Spaceflight:

* NASA's STEREO Probes Weather Temperature Extremes

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/06013...reo_update.html

A set of spacecraft twins destined to stare at the Sun is alternately baking and
freezing in a preflight test.

Should be June 23 at 3:30pm. I've put in a request for the windows (the current one now targetted is June 23 to July 7). STEREO is a very interesting mission in terms of its orbital dance to get into position and the launch windows being based on the moons position. They have some neat Quicktimes tracing out the paths.

[ToSeek]

I supported the STEREO mission for a while. One of my coworkers had the full-time job of working out how to get the spacecraft in the desired orbits based on each of the various possible launch dates.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I hope they will allow public access to the images in the way the LASCO images are available from SOHO.

[jamescanvin]

I've seen some simulations of the data expected from STEREO and the 3D images/movies of prominences etc. are going to be awsome!

Really looking forward to this mission!

James

[BPCooper]

Looks like launch of STEREO has been pushed back again, now July 22.

[ljk4-1]

NASA STEREO Arrives in Florida to Begin Launch Preparations

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=19765

"NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft arrived
today at Astrotech, a payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center
in Florida, to begin preparations and final testing for launch.

Liftoff will occur aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17 on
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the summer."

[ljk4-1]

05.12.06

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-3749

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

STATUS REPORT: ELV-051206

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)

Launch Site: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II
Launch Date: July 22, 2006
Launch Time: 3:11 - 3:13 p.m. and 4:19 - 4:34 p.m. EDT

Technicians completed state-of-health testing of the two STEREO
spacecraft this week, following their May 3 arrival in Florida.
Individual system checkout is under way.

The STEREO flight batteries are scheduled to be installed next week.
The build-up of the Delta II rocket at Pad 17-B is scheduled to begin
during the last week of May.

For previous status reports, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launch...ets/status/2006

STEREO will use "3D" vision to build a global picture of the sun and
its influences. For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

[ljk4-1]

05.19.06

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-3749

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

STATUS REPORT: ELV-051906

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)
Launch Site: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II
Launch Date: July 22, 2006
Launch Times: 3:11 - 3:13 p.m. and 4:19 - 4:34 p.m. EDT

Technicians are testing individual STEREO systems on both the "A" and
"B" spacecraft. The flight battery for spacecraft A was installed
this week. Technicians are expected to install the battery for
spacecraft B next week. In addition to testing, upcoming work planned
over the next few weeks includes solar array installation and
integration of the high-gain communications antenna.

The build-up of the Delta II rocket at Pad 17-B is currently scheduled
to begin on June 1 with the first stage. Pad workers will start to
erect the nine solid rocket boosters on June 2. The second stage will
be hoisted into position and mated to the first stage on June 20. The
crew will raise the 10-foot fairing into the pad clean room on June
21.

For previous status reports, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launch...ets/status/2006

STEREO will use "3D" vision to build a global picture of the sun and
the heliosphere and study the sun's influence on Earth. For more
information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

[ljk4-1]

06.09.06

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

STATUS REPORT: ELV-060906

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory)
Launch Pad: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II
Launch Date: July 22, 2006
Launch Times: 3:11 - 3:13 p.m. and 4:19 - 4:34 p.m. EDT

Testing and prelaunch processing of STEREO continue on schedule. Deep
Space Network spacecraft compatibility testing is under way. Launch
and mission simulation exercises are also being performed. Upcoming
next week is further thermal blanket installation and preparations
for attaching the solar arrays. STEREO is scheduled to be transported
to Launch Complex 17 on July 11 to be mated to the Boeing Delta II
rocket.

The first stage of the Delta II rocket at Pad 17-B was erected on June
2. The first of three sets of three solid rocket boosters were
attached on June 5. At this time, the Delta II second stage is
scheduled to be hoisted into position and mated to the first stage on
June 20. The crew will raise the 10-foot fairing into the pad clean
room on June 21.

For information about the STEREO mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo

Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launch...ets/status/2006

[djellison]

STEREO footage via the KSC Video Feeds...

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countd.../video45lh.html

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[disownedsky]

For information about the STEREO mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo

Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launch...ets/status/2006

Or:
http://stereo.jhuapl.edu/

APL (a lab of Johns Hopkins University) designed and built the two spacecraft. An interesting side note, they carry very similar RAD 750 based electronics to the MESSENGER mission (also built by APL), except that they are single-string and don't have MESSENGER's Fault Protection Processor.

[djellison]

they carry very similar RAD 750 based electronics to the MESSENGER mission (also built by APL), except that they are single-string and don't have MESSENGER's Fault Protection Processor.

MER like redundency in that there's two spacecraft I suppose.

Looking at the Orbit sims (and I'm not sure how accurate they are w.r.t. SKM's or TCM's ) - by something like 2010, they'll be on opposite sides of the sun from one another, and by 2012 - they'll be in almost 120 degree seperation around the sun, with the Earth at the third point, abnd by 2014, they'd overtake one another not far from a solar conjunction ...now THAT is looking in Stereo

I'm looking forward to the imagery - approx 3x better resolution than SOHO's imagers.

Doug

[Jim from NSF.com]

MER like redundency in that there's two spacecraft I suppose.

Doug

Unlike MER, both spacecraft are required to complete the mission objectives. After all, the mission name isn't MONO

[djellison]

True - but you still get 'something', even if it's not the full mission objectives - one could rescue something from a mixture of SOHO + One stereo spacecraft perhaps.

Doug

[RNeuhaus]

Looking at the Orbit sims (and I'm not sure how accurate they are w.r.t. SKM's or TCM's ) - by something like 2010, they'll be on opposite sides of the sun from one another, and by 2012 - they'll be in almost 120 degree seperation around the sun, with the Earth at the third point, abnd by 2014, they'd overtake one another not far from a solar conjunction ...now THAT is looking in Stereo

The Stereo orbit would be very complicated with many Moon and Earth fly-by, so its path around the sun would not be a curviline straight line. I seems that there will be two spacecraft brothers Stereo? Ones will be placed at about 22 degree ahead and the other will be lagging 22 degree from Earth? But, I realized that it is not so. There will be only one spacecraft Stereo taking the advantage of Moon gravity to use a series of lunar swingbys to redirect the spacecraft ahead and behind of Earth.



Rodolfo

[djellison]

Yup - two spacecraft launched together that separate after launch, and then they both use Lunar flybys - one a month after the other, to chuck one ahead of the Earth, and one behind.

Doug

[RNeuhaus]

Yup - two spacecraft launched together that separate after launch, and then they both use Lunar flybys - one a month after the other, to chuck one ahead of the Earth, and one behind.

Doug

Oppsss, NASA is getting toys even most sophisticated to play with! It is seen that NASA is getting a mastery of fly-by to any celestial bodies.

Rodolfo

[bdunford]

According to the updated STEREO site, the launch is now scheduled for August 1.

[BPCooper]

Off to the next window, August 20th.

[bdunford]

Your photography is stunning. Very slick work.

[BPCooper]

Thanks...

Aug 31 at the earliest now as they check the Delta second stage for leaks.

[BPCooper]

Once again postponed, STEREO is now slated for the next window which opens September 18th.

[BPCooper]

Yet again:

STATUS REPORT: ELV-090106


Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

Mission: STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory)
Launch Pad: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II
Launch Date: No earlier than Oct. 18, 2006
Launch Time: TBD

A decision was made to remove the STEREO second stage from the launch vehicle and perform inspection from inside the propellant tank to verify it is structurally sound for flight.

The launch of STEREO is now targeted for no earlier than Oct. 18. An electrical checkout of the vehicle is under way due to lightning strikes within a one-third mile radius of Complex 17 during the passing of Tropical Storm Ernesto.

The STEREO observatories remain at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility. Today technicians removed the transportation canister from around the payload to begin the process of reconditioning the batteries and preparing for the storage period (currently about 30 days). The twin spacecraft will remain in storage until the necessary course of action for the Delta II can be more clearly defined. There was no effect on the STEREO spacecraft from Tropical Storm Ernesto.

[RNeuhaus]

Another problem that Stereo spacecraft is facing: Boeing engineers at the firm’s Decatur, Ala., rocket-manufacturing facility discovered during routine testing that the rocket’s second stage leaked. The problem was traced back to an oxidizer tank Boeing buys from Alcatel Alenia Space in Turin, Italy.

Delta 2 Tank Worries Delay STEREO Launch

Rodolfo

[BPCooper]

Thought I would post the reminder that the STEREO spacecraft are set for launch Wednesday night aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

The launch weather forecast calls for excellent conditions with a 90% chance of good weather. You can get the forecast and updates at www.SpaceflightNow.com.

The launch will be on NASA Television (www.nasa.gov/ntv for the webcast).

[edstrick]

There will be a pre-launch briefing on Stereo:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

October 24, Tuesday
1 - 3 p.m. - STEREO Prelaunch Press Conference and Mission Science Briefing - KSC (Public and Media Channels)

That's Eastern time.

[RNeuhaus]

There will be three months so they will be flying toward to their Lagrange Points: L4 (ahead of Earth) and L5 (behind of Earth).

Enclosed is a cut article from http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/design.shtml


For the first three months after launch, the two observatories will fly in highly elliptical orbits extending from very close to Earth to just beyond the Moon's orbit. STEREO Mission Operations personnel at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will synchronize spacecraft orbits so that about two months after launch they encounter the Moon, at which time one of them is close enough to use the Moon's gravity to redirect it to a position "behind" Earth. Approximately one month later, the second observatory will encounter the Moon again and be redirected to its orbit "ahead" of Earth.

The following link will show you clearly on how the Stereos spacecraft will get into their respective final points: http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/movies...REO_phasing.mov

A very elegant fly-by design. It is like to play a ball game. That is to have a very precise aim to get up to there.

Rodolfo

[mars loon]

T-4 minutes from launch as the last hurdles (concerns for toxic vapors over populated areas) are cleared

[jabe]

Can't wait for the first pictures..
tha animation of the moon fly by is pretty neat

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Can't wait for the first pictures..

We're still a long way from that yet. The launch has gone well so far, waiting info on whether the spacecraft have seperated from each other and solar panel deployment.

[mars loon]

Launch Success: The STEREO Spacecraft have seperated from the Delta 2 at 9:17 PM EDT

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://stereo.jhuapl.edu/

Watching the live stream here, and people are clapping and smiling, so I presume things are going well.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=DataAnalysisOverview

SECCHI has an open data policy. Calibrated data will be made public via the Internet within hours of its receipt. The SECCHI team will provide modern data visualization tools to display the information from one telescope, to overlay data from multiple instruments, and to visualize coincident data from both spacecraft.



And a little more info on some of the instruments:

http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=Specifics

Coronographs: COR2 will image the corona with five times the spatial resolution and three times the temporal resolution of LASCO/C3.

Extreme Ultraviolet Imager: EUVI provides full Sun coverage with twice the spatial resolution and dramatically improved cadence over EIT.

[pjm]

Afternoon all,

I've managed to catch the X-Band signals from both of the Stereo satellites this morning, the signal was extreamly strong which isnt too suprising as they are so close to earth. I could see sidebands on the X-band signal, presumably downlink telemetry. The satellites only peaked at 15 degrees elevation this morning, so half of the dish was blocked by local buildings. Tommorows pass looks better with a 21deg peak elevation.

I've put up a report of the x-band reception at http://www.uhf-satcom.com/stereo/

regards,

Paul
www.uhf-satcom.com

[BPCooper]

Here's a couple of time-lapse photos:

http://www.launchphotography.com/STEREO.html

[deglr6328]

Are there any stereo websites that uh, don't suck? Just finding a basic rundown of instrument parameters for something like SECCHI/EUVI is like pulling teeth. I hope that once things get going there's a revamp and consolidation of mission information on ONE website.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html
http://stereo.jhuapl.edu/
http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/
http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage

[deglr6328]

Yeah but that's what I mean. I visited all those sites and most of them point to the NRL site for information on instruments but even after poking around that (positively byzantine) site for a while I still don't even know how big secchi's ccd is

[helvick]

The SECCHI HI instruments have a 2kx2k CCD (page 5) with 2x2 binning.

Shameless plug - I found this using my Google Space Flight Customised Search just by searching for "SECCHI CCD .pdf". It's the first link.

[Airbag]

All kinds of low-level mission info at:

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/

For instance, this week's activities:

CODE

Scheduled activities for Week 44:

M Oct 30 (303)   A1 Prime Delta V Maneuver        (Ahead 18:00, Behind 21:00)
T Oct 31 (304)   A1 Apogee                        (Ahead 17:17, Behind 16:16)
                 A1 Backup #1 Delta V Maneuver    (Ahead 18:00, Behind 21:00)
W Nov 01 (305)   A1 Backup #2 Delta V Maneuver    (Ahead 18:00, Behind 21:00)
                 Deploy IMPACT boom
T Nov 02 (306)   2nd Engineering Burn
F Nov 03 (307)  
S Nov 04 (308)  
S Nov 05 (309)

Airbag

[IM4]

no updates in this topic since october, but actually, very interesting things had happened last week:

December 4, 2006: The SECCHI team opened the doors to the SECCHI SCIP-A instruments and took a few first-light images. Everything went absolutely smoothly. The three doors opened without incident. The first images look great even though they were sent down highly compressed to keep the downlink time reasonable.
The EUVI was opened first and an image from each of the four quadrants looked fine - no major tears or pinholes in the front filters. The sun is close to being in the center of the CCD, and the resolution is beautiful.
Then we opened COR2 and took an image--also beautiful, although there is a slight offpoint (which we expected). The exposure time is just about where we expected, about 3-4 seconds. We then took a pB sequence of 3 images with the result that streamers could be seen all the way to the edge of the field.
Then COR1 was opened and it was also as expected. A pB sequence shows the inner corona nicely out to about 2.5 R, which is what we expected.

(and even more news at http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/new.shtml)

so i am eager to see new pics, especially ones from December 7, when enourmous solar flare had been taken place.

PS First lunar swinby is scheduled for December 15.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

The website here doesn't seem to have been updated since launch nearly 2 months ago http://stereo.jhuapl.edu/ The site you posted is the only source of information.

[Airbag]

By the way, looks like the spacecraft have just had their lunar flybys, and you can start to see their different paths evolve:

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/where.shtml

airbag

[djellison]

That's the first lunar flyby - B is now on its way - A will loop back one more time, get a flyby in about 35 days of the moon again - and head out the other direction.

Doug

[edstrick]

Somewhere in their page is a link to an approximately weekly comissioning status report. All instruments have been activating nicely so far, though I think they generally aren't gathering data yet except the radio emissions spectrometer. They've had plots of that data up since almost immediately after launch, and the data from the two instruments is nearly identical..... except when first one spacecraft and then the other makes a periapsis pass through Earth's inner magnetosphere. Then back in the free-streaming solar wind, the data's nearly identical again.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/new.shtml

[Phil Stooke]

First pics:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/n...irst_light.html

Phil

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Wonderful images, i'm really excited about this mission, more so than any other. Take a look at the High Res "Blue" image, incredible.. its at full resolution - 1800 x 1800 pixels, the others are "half res"

[deglr6328]

ohh tif files!(??) convenient! anyway, they look very nice and crisp. very low noise realtive to EIT.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

You can resize the red 304A TIFF up to 1800 x 1800 to get an idea of what they will look like too.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/

Can anyone access this website anymore? not working for me.

[ElkGroveDan]

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/

Can anyone access this website anymore? not working for me.

Ditto. But this still works: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

The other STEREO websites are very outdated in terms of the latest information. That was the only one that kept up to date.

Hmmm seems none of the "nascom" sites are working.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

There appear to be images from STEREO posted now, but I have no idea what format they are in (fts), I tried downloading a file but couldn't open it with anything I have.

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/data/ins_data/secchi/L0/

[jamescanvin]

I can't seem to get to the data atm (only the home page loads and very slowly). I assume .fts will be some sort of fits format. I'll have a go at this this week if I can get anything off the site.

James

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Both the SOHO and STEREO sites are appear to be down again.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Both the SOHO and STEREO sites are appear to be down again.

Is the SOHO website still down even for US people?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

The websites are back up if anyone wants to take a look at the STEREO images.

[jamescanvin]

I just had a look. But then I noticed this:

The STEREO data policy calls for SECCHI images to be embargoed in the first few months of the mission. Until the embargo is over, access to SECCHI images requires password authentication. Data from other instruments are openly available as soon as they are received.

Well I guess the 'first few months of the mission' have passed but I suspect they mean of the science phase and that this embargo is still in place even if there is no password required at the moment. I guess I'll email someone before posting anything I shouldn't...

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

But I managed to download a file but haven't found anything that will open it.

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/data/ins.../euvi/20070104/

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/data/ins.../hi_1/20070104/

[jamescanvin]

Yep I can download the files as well, but I don't think that is because the embargo is over but rather a fault with the archive. I've emailed someone about it for clarification and until we hear otherwise I don't think it's appropriate to post any of the SECCHI images on UMSF.

The .fts files are, as I suspected, standard FITS files and open fine for me.

James

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

What program did you use to open it with?

[jamescanvin]

Well I used AIPS - but that's because I'm a radio astronomer and a sadist - I wouldn't recommend that!

FV seems to work and I think the GIMP will open FITS files these days although as far as I can tell you can't play around with the grey/colour scale range after loading (although I've never really tried) I think there is a photoshop plugin out there as well, 'FITS liberator' or something, never tried it but I probably should!

James

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Im using Windows Millenium Edition lol I found FITSview and it opened the pic ok.

[Indian3000]

a small animation

- Spacecraft A
- Day 2007/01/04
- Filter 171
- size 25%

Animation +- 4 Mega in animated Gif

[helvick]

Oooh that's sweet. I think I'm really going to like this mission.

[Indian3000]

here a small video ( Xvid codec requis )

- Spacecraft A
- Day 2007/01/(03-04) ( 131 Frames )
- Filter 171
- size 25%

 STEREO_A_200701_03_04__171.avi ( 280.5K ) Number of downloads: 963

[Indian3000]

a quick composition with filter 171,195,304.



i will make a video with this coloration methode, but tomorrow, it's late now

[dilo]

a quick composition with filter 171,195,304.

Cool, this is the same composition for Dec,04 (first ligh) plus a merge of 286A and 304A pictures on the right:

[Bob Shaw]

Anybody know if Stereo will be able to see comets as they pass the Sun in er, stereo?


Bob Shaw

[edstrick]

They're not far from the earth-sun line, and SOHO's near that line too. There will be stereo, but it will probably be too weak to be of any use on comet morphology itself.

[Airbag]

Talking about STEREO and comets passing the sun...

http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/index.php?p=latest_news

Airbag

[djellison]

Yep I can download the files as well, but I don't think that is because the embargo is over but rather a fault with the archive. I've emailed someone about it for clarification and until we hear otherwise I don't think it's appropriate to post any of the SECCHI images on UMSF.

I emailed Michael Kaiser about this - asked if the stuff was supposed to be out, can we play with it, and what should be a proper credit line....

His response today:
Feel free -- we have no embargoes. Of course, we're still in instrument commissioning phase so a lot of the stuff is still pretty raw. Better stuff coming soon. As to credits...SECCHI is managed by NRL (Russ Howard, PI) and STEREO is managed by NASA/GSFC.

Yay for the Stereo team
Doug

[ngunn]

Anybody know if Stereo will be able to see comets as they pass the Sun in er, stereo?
Bob Shaw

I don't see why not. The craft may still be pretty close to Earth now but as they spread apart along the Earth's orbit they should do that job very well, I would think.

[edstrick]

It's unfortunate that McNaught was too early for full commissioning of the instruments and for there to be any significant baseline batween the two spacecraft. We'd have 3-d information on the "isochron" bands you can see in the Stereo images that have shown up on the net.

Each isochron striation is the result of an impulsive dust release from an "event" at the nucleus, spreading out along the tail as light pressure sorts fine particles from coarser and coarser particles. Comet West showed such bands spectacularly.

[djellison]

Wow...just wow.
Date, Spacecraft and Instrument all obvious from filename.

Doug

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[djellison]

This is from A on the 5th

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[fredk]

This imagery is incredible - I'm drowning in 32bits/p!

Here's an animation of the past 8 days or so of imagery of McNaught, one frame per day. All images are logarithmically scaled and then shifted linearly to set black level (totally arbitrary, but it works). This is a zipped avi file, to make the 1MB limit.
 McNaught_stereo.zip ( 742.56K ) Number of downloads: 1962

Incredible detail in the tail as it sails through Capricornus. Old striations becoming non-radial with the sun due to orbital motion superposed with newer radial striations. Insane. Ion tail clearly visible on the leading edge, as well. If I had time I'd do the full frame every 2 hours that are available...

[fredk]

Here's one uncompressed frame from the above animation, on the 16th:

That's Venus near bottom, and Mercury in the zodiacal light near the right of the frame.

[fredk]

Another animation, this time with all 12 frames from the 15th:
 McNaught_stereo_15b.AVI ( 947.5K ) Number of downloads: 1002

You can follow individual features in the tail as they recede from the sun.

[Tman]

Wow!!! Like eagle wings on their way through the Universe - just visiting the solar system by circling our sun!

Thanks Fred!

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Looking at filenames - how do we tell which are the Extreme UV 304 frame images... STEREO's equivalent of SOHO's EIT 304 (Orange)?

[djellison]

Beautiful anims Fred - what did you use for manipulating the FITS?

Doug

[fredk]

Thanks, Doug - I used ImageJ. I ain't no image wizard though, and ImageJ was all I had that worked. I like its ability to do math on pixel values and its ability to handle very deep bitdepths. It's a bargain, too.

[scalbers]

I see there are also some movies at this URL:

http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/index.p...t_news#McNaught

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Does anyone know whether STEREO will have a similar policy to the SOHO mission regarding image release when everything is up and running, i.e. near real time image release. There are "beacon images" available but they are highly compressed for quick transmission.

[djellison]

They are already releasing stuff very rapidly - but as FITS images - they plan to get something better going eventually as I understand it.

Doug

[deglr6328]

well it's over a year and a half later now, what's going on with this site? still only horribly compressed "beacon images" and months old fits data files. awful.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

well it's over a year and a half later now, what's going on with this site? still only horribly compressed "beacon images" and months old fits data files. awful.

Yes it's a little disappointing compared to SOHO, i'm hoping for better from SDO.

[djellison]

What's the problem?


http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/sccimages/index...4&nothumb=1

[tedstryk]

What's the problem?

I have wondered that since the first idiotic post in the thread. There is a difference between one website and a true lack of information.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I have wondered that since the first idiotic post in the thread. There is a difference between one website and a true lack of information.

This forum is getting unpleasantly cliquey

[djellison]

What do you want, a medal for complaining about something which 5 seconds with google shows to be totally untrue?

[OWW]

There's also a difference between getting a medal for 'complaining' and getting some helpful comments. And what's 'idiotic' about expecting full-res STEREO images on the official STEREO website? What's up with the 'let's make the ignorant newbie feel dumb' attitude all of a sudden?

Just my opinion.

[djellison]

what's 'idiotic' about expecting full-res STEREO images on the official STEREO website?

Nothing. What's idiotic is complaining that there are no images, when there are, which 5 seconds with Google would tell anybody. What's idiotic is not checking first, before labelling STEREO as awful. It would be impossible to spend more than a minute looking for the images, without finding them. So what does that tell you when someone comes here and complains they don't exist?

Ted wasn't describing newbies as idiotic. Two very long term members, with significant post counts should have the initiative and sensibility to go and check that these images don't exist before complaining about it.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Ted wasn't describing newbies as idiotic. Two very long term members, with significant post counts should have the initiative and sensibility to go and check that these images don't exist before complaining about it.

But they don't exist

The images you linked to are available in 1024x1024 size images, STEREO has a 2048x2048 pixel ccd. So the images have been resized down, they are the same size as those from SOHO, also the latest image folder is 5 days old, SOHO images are generally available in real time, so my point still stands.

This image from SOHO was taken 30 minutes ago.

[Phil Stooke]

Let's all take a deep breath and pretend this little exchange didn't happen.

Phil