CAPTION: This image (June 27 at 8:02 MDT) shows the size and extent of the full resolution visible imagery in the STERAO-A data archive. The visible channel of the GOES imaging instrument has a footprint of 1 km (at nadir), allowing an image resolution that is 16 times better than that from the corresponding infrared channels.

In this morning image, the shadows from high clouds (as in Nebraska and Central Wyoming corner of the image) seem to present a puzzle. At first glance (and second glance as well), the shadows appear to be cast toward the southwest, requiring the sub-solar point to be north of the 40 degree parallel, clearly an impossibility with the Earth's axis having an inclination angle of only 23.5 degrees. The explanation of this puzzle is that the apparent positions of the high clouds are actually the projections of the cloud images onto the Earth's surface. Since the satellite generally views the Earth at an oblique angle, there can be a considerable degree of parallax, with a corresponding shoft in the apparent cloud location. The cloud shadow, on the other hand, is merely a darkening of the Earth surface and is therefore not subject to this effect. In other words, the shadow is in the right place, but the clouds are offset to the northwest.