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The STEREO coronagraphs are designed to look at the faint solar corona. Planets, on the other hand, are very bright and tend to saturate in the detectors. Because of this, they generally end up looking much larger than they really are, and are often surrounded by lens flare effects. This is particularly true for COR2, which is much more sensitive than COR1
Mercury is visible the first few days of July in the morning hours. By July 4th, Mercury disappears into the glare of the sunrise and reappears on the evening side of the Sun around July 24th. After July 24th Mercury continues to move in better position for viewing until August 24th when Mercury reaches its Greatest Eastern Elongation.
SWPC X-ray alerts are issued at the M5 (5x10E-5 Watts/m2) and X1 (1x10E-4 Watts/m2) levels, based upon 1-minute data. Large X-ray bursts cause short wave fades for HF propagation paths through the sunlit hemisphere. Some large flares are accompanied by strong solar radio bursts that may interfere with satellite downlinks