Latest images from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO - EUVI/COR1/COR2/HI1/HI2)

Four years after the initial loss of communications anomaly with the Behind observatory, NASA has directed to cease periodic recovery operations with the last support on October 17, 2018.

Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (or STEREO) employs two nearly identical space-based observatories. One ahead of Earth in its orbit (STEREO A), the other trailing behind (STEREO B) to provide stereoscopic measurements to study the Sun and the nature of its CMEs. Check the current STEREO positions and ground station coverage.

Beacon images

These are the latest received images from both spacecraft. They are generally of lower quality and resolution. Some factors such as Deep Space Network schedule conflicts may result in delaying the beacon images. Check below for the latest high-resolution images (these are normally delayed by up to 72 hours).

Note: Both HI1 and HI2 images are processed using two different methods. You can swap the different versions by clicking on the full-size image in the popup window.

STEREO A (Earth is to the right (post solar conjunction) in EUVI, COR1 and COR2)

EUVI 195Å COR1 COR2 HI1 STARS/HI1 CME HI2 STARS/HI2 CME

STEREO B (Earth is to the right in EUVI, COR1 and COR2)
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Latest high-resolution images

STEREO A STEREO B (no contact)

EUVI 171Å EUVI 195Å EUVI 284Å EUVI 304Å EUVI 171Å EUVI 195Å EUVI 284Å EUVI 304Å

COR1 COR1 rdiff COR2 COR2 rdiff COR1 COR1 rdiff COR2 COR2 rdiff

Stereo Behind COR1 RDIFF high resolution

Stereo Behind COR2 RDIFF high resolution

HI1 HI1 rdiff HI1 STARS HI2 STARS HI1 HI1 rdiff HI1 STARS HI2 STARS

note: The "rdiff" COR and HI images use different type of postprocessing called "running difference". It detects the difference between the current and the previous available frame, thus providing a highlight on the subtle details in the images.

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7-day composite videos (updated daily)
NOTE: Contact with STEREO-B has been lost. As a result the videos may not be updated regularly due to insufficient data.

COR1

COR2

HI1

HI2

EUVI-171

EUVI-195

EUVI-284

EUVI-304

COR1, COR2, HI1, HI2

EUVI-171, EUVI-195, EUVI-284, EUVI-304

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Visible planets

STEREO A (Earth is to the right (post solar conjunction))

Visible planets on Stereo Ahead Coronagraph 1

Visible planets on Stereo Ahead Coronagraph 2

Visible planets on Stereo Ahead Heliospheric Imager 1

Visible planets on Stereo Behind Coronagraph 1

Visible planets on Stereo Behind Coronagraph 2

Visible planets on Stereo Behind Heliospheric Imager 1

STEREO B (Earth is to the right)
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IMPACT/PLASTIC solar wind data

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Status and upcoming events:

STEREO A/B weekly status report from the Mission Operations Center: DOWNLOAD (pdf)

	    STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-10-20 (Week 43)
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
-------------
 
* None.
 
 
INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS
--------------------------------
 
* Ahead is operating nominally.  PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a
  high background rate.
 
* Four years after the initial loss of communications anomaly with the Behind
  observatory, NASA has directed to cease periodic recovery operations with the
  last support on October 17, 2018.
 
 
DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS
-------------------------------------
 
Week 42 (Oct 12-18)

* On day 286 (Oct 12), during the DSS-83 (ESA Cebreros) support for Ahead,
  turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1630z, due to a glitch in the downlink
  signal that ESA reported.  This anomaly resulted in the loss of five frames
  of SSR data.  The MOC performed an SLE offline telemetry retrieval from
  downlink chain #2, which did not recover any additional data.  It's unknown
  whether the anomaly occured onboard or in the ground system.

* On day 289 (Oct 15), during the DSS-36 support for Ahead, command bind was
  aborted at 0729z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by
  DSN.  This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was
  reestablished at 0828z.  See DR #G121412 for more information.

* On day 289 (Oct 15), during the DSS-36 and DSS-63 supports for Ahead, the
  File Delivery Service (FDS) was down, due to a network problem.  This anomaly
  delayed the nominal delivery of telemetry files during the tracks until a
  manual retrieval was performed by MOPs at 289-2330z.  See DR #C115231 for
  more information.

* On day 290 (Oct 16), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, initial acquisition
  of telemetry was 3.25 minutes late at 0503z, due to a Downlink Channel
  Control Processor failure.  In addition, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly
  at 0736z.  This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1.25 minutes of SSR data.
  The command bind was aborted at 0554z due to an unknown reason, which is
  under investigation by DSN.  On the subsequent DSS-56 support, MOPs
  repositioned the SSR pointers and recovered all the affected DSS-34 data.
  See DR #C115230 for more information.

* On day 290 (Oct 16), the Project Interface Test (PIT) was conducted
  successfully for DSS-56 (new Madrid 34M antenna) with Ahead.  The MOC
  received monitor data, telemetry, and sent commands from all three IONET
  workstations.  The station lost connection to UPA1 and aborted the command
  bind at 1620z, due to a connection engine issue.  This anomaly had no impact
  on operations and command bind was reestablished at 1633z.  See DR # M112708
  for more information.

* On day 290 (Oct 16), during the DSS-25 support for Ahead, command bind was
  aborted at 291-0056z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation
  by DSN.  This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was
  reestablished at 291-0233z.  See DR #G121412 for more information.

* On day 292 (Oct 18), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, command bind was
  aborted at 2154z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by
  DSN.  This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was
  reestablished at 2233z.  Other missions have been reporting similar problems
  with command bind over the last week.

* As of day 292 (Oct 18), all PLASTIC systems are behaving well, except there
  is a high background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor.

* The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.1 Gbits during this
  week.

Week 43 (Oct 19-25)

* Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.  There
  are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and three at 360 kbps.

* SECCHI made observations with HI2 of the star Betelgeuse on Monday, Oct 19,
  between 12-14 UT, without rolling the spacecraft, for cross-calibration with
  other telescopes.

Week 44 (Oct 26-Nov 1)

* Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.
  There are five passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one
  at 160 kbps.

* SECCHI will observe the star Betelgeuse on Monday, Oct 26, between 12-14 UT,
  without rolling the spacecraft, for cross-calibration purposes.

* The 132nd momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 27, with ignition at
  15:00 UT.

* The STEREO Annual Spacecraft Assessment review is scheduled for Wednesday,
  Oct 28, starting at 8:30.  This will be an online review.

* An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 28, and an ESA Cebreros
  pass is scheduled for Thursday, Oct 29.

* Daylight savings time in the US ends on Sunday, Nov 1.

Week 45 (Nov 2-8)

* Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.
  There are six passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps.

* ESA New Norcia passes are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Nov 7,8.

Week 46 (Nov 9-15)

* Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.
  There are six passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps.

* Wednesday, Nov 11, is Veteran's Day, which is a holiday at APL.

Week 47 (Nov 16-22)

* Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.
  There are six passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps.

* Solar Orbiter will have a remote sensing observing window while in
  conjunction with STEREO Ahead, Nov 16-22.

* An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 18.

Week 48 (Nov 23-29)

* Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal.
  There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps.

* Thurdsay, Nov 26, is Thanksgiving.  APL will be closed Thurdsay and Friday,
  Nov 26-27.


COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 43:

M Oct 19 (293)  Ahead: SECCHI observations of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT
T Oct 20 (294)  
W Oct 21 (295)  
T Oct 22 (296)  
F Oct 23 (297)  
S Oct 24 (298)  
S Oct 25 (299)  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 44:

M Oct 26 (300)  Ahead: SECCHI observations of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT
T Oct 27 (301)  Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:00 UT
W Oct 28 (302)  
T Oct 29 (303)  
F Oct 30 (304)  
S Oct 31 (305)  
S Nov 01 (306)  Daylight savings time ends in US.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 45:

M Nov 02 (307)  
T Nov 03 (308)  
W Nov 04 (309)  
T Nov 05 (310)  
F Nov 06 (311)  
S Nov 07 (312)  
S Nov 08 (313)  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 46:

M Nov 09 (314)  
T Nov 10 (315)  
W Nov 11 (316)  Veteran's Day
T Nov 12 (317)  
F Nov 13 (318)  
S Nov 14 (319)  
S Nov 15 (320)  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 47:

M Nov 16 (321)  Start of Solar Orbiter conjunction w/STEREO obs. window
T Nov 17 (322)  
W Nov 18 (323)  
T Nov 19 (324)  
F Nov 20 (325)  
S Nov 21 (326)  End of Solar Orbiter conjunction observation window
S Nov 22 (327)  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled activities for Week 48:

M Nov 23 (328)  
T Nov 24 (329)  
W Nov 25 (330)  
T Nov 26 (331)  Thanksgiving
F Nov 27 (332)  
S Nov 28 (333)  
S Nov 29 (334)  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Upcoming events:

Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft.

2021:

* Jan 13-23		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Feb 1-19		Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics
* Feb 20		Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby
* Feb 20-25		Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 2
* Mar 21-24		Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 3
* Apr 21-28		Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics
* Apr 25-May 4		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* May 13-Jul 15		Betelgeuse visible in SECCHI HI2 with 180 degree roll
* Aug 5-15		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Oct 16		Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby
* Nov 17-26		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass

2022:

* Feb 21-Mar 2		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* May 28-Jun 7		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Sep 2-11		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Dec 7-16		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass

2023:

* Mar 13-23		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* May 5			Behind: Mercury transit
* Jun 17-27		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Jul 17		Behind: Closest approach to Earth
* Aug 13		Ahead: Closest approach to Earth
* Aug 21		Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby
* Sep 23-Oct 3		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Dec 25-Jan 3		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass

2024:

* Mar 26-Apr 4		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Jun 26-Jul 5		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Sep 26-Oct 5		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Nov 6			Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view
* Dec 20-29		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass

2025:

* Mar 19-27		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass
* Apr 7			Ahead: Mercury transit
* Jun 15-24		Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass

2026:

2027:

* Feb 1			Behind: Mercury transit

2028:

2029:

* Jun 30		Ahead: Mercury transit

Courtesy of STEREO/SECCHI consortium.