posted on Jul, 5 2009 @ 09:01 PM
reply to post by Plastered
There are actually three satellites observing the Sun right now.
1) STEREO B is behind us in orbit around the sun. It gives us a little bit of a preview of what's coming our way on the Sun's western limb as the
Sun rotates. It does miss some of the Eastern limb of the Sun.
2) SOHO is about 1.5million kilometers away from us, directly between us and the SUN. It provides a full view of the same face of the Sun which we
see.
3) STEREO A is ahead of us in orbit around the sun. It gives us a long preview of things that be may still be happening when the part of the Sun just
around the eastern limb comes back around.
We don't have the capability of seeing the far side of the Sun (until it rotates into view of STEREO B) but we do have excellent coverage of what's
going on on the near side.