12/12/06 STEREO Spacecraft Perigee Pass by Jim Albers
On Dec 12, 2006, the two STEREO (Solar TErrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft will perform their last perigee pass before heading out past the Moon, sending one ahead of the Earth and one behind in order to provide views of the Sun from two directions. During this pass, observers on the dark side of the Earth should be able to see the spacecraft using medium to large amateur telescopes.
Image of SETREO A taken by UA astronomer Bill Keel using a 0.9 m SARA telescope on Kitt Peak, AZ
9:14Z 15,300 km range
60s exposure, spacecraft crossed frame in 12s
Overhead view of trajectories and both spacecraft at 10:25 UTC
Maximum predicted magnitude of Stereo A worldwide
Latitude from -90 to +90 and Longitude from -180 to +180, tick marks every 30 degrees
Color scale on right side of plot from black:15th magnitude to white:9th magnitude
Sun must be < -6 degrees elevation
Includes effects of atmospheric extinction, solar phase angle and range
Maximum predicted magnitude of Stereo B worldwide
[A-FDF282, B-FDF291] Excel Prediction Spreadsheet (Time, Az, El, RA, Dec, Range, Sun-Sat-Obs angle, Mag Estimate for any location) from Spice (389 kb zip, Uses Visual Basic - Enable Macros)
Originally created by Ted Molczan for Stardust Reentry, range, angle from Jim Albers, magnitude estimate from David Dunham, populated here with STEREO data
Caution, coordinates calculated by spreadsheet may have several tenths of a degree error, so some searching around calculated location(s) may be required.
David Dunham Stereo Page (News, Spice trajectory files, etc.)
San Jose,CA Finder Charts and
Data Plots 
| 8 - 11 Hrs RA | 4 - 8 Hrs RA | 0 - 4 Hrs RA |
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Azimuth and Elevation Data Point every 5 minutes |
Time - Elevation |
Time - Range |
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Stereo A, B Spacecraft B is higher in Dec and rises later Viewpoint is San Jose, CA (37.339400 deg, -121.893900 deg, 0.12 km alt) From 12/4/06 Spice files [ A-FDF241, B-FDF240] on Dunham page
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Rob Matson Skymap info and files