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Originally posted by Phage
In the HI2 image from STEREO behind we are seeing Jupiter at the very edge of the field of view. If you go back to earlier in June you'll see it crossing from left to right. It performed a similar (but more spectacular) show last year (Jan. 30 - Feb. 2).
[edit on 7/3/2010 by Phage]
Originally posted by JR MacBeth
reply to post by Phage
Phage, it isn't marked "2" (or is it the second one?), but maybe it would be nice to see that more "spectacular" show you mention anyway, earlier in June, not so long ago?
JR
[edit on 3-7-2010 by JR MacBeth]
Occasionally one will see bright blobs or streaks appearing in the STEREO coronagraph images. These have been seen before by the SOHO mission, and are caused by micrometeorite impacts knocking off small pieces of the multi-layer insulation blankets which are wrapped around the spacecraft. These small debris particles are brightly illuminated by the Sun, and are easily seen by the coronagraphs if they wander into the field of view. They are tremendously out-of-focus, and often appear as "donut" shapes in the COR1 and COR2 telescopes because of the central occulter in these telescopes. The bigger the piece of debris appears, the closer it is to the telescope. Because the COR1 and COR2 images are generally built up from a series of images, the same piece of debris will often show up multiple times