I’ve noticed that all in the aggregate of faces for, say, a UV sphere are independently faced for texturing. I know the math behind this could get a mite sticky, but is there any way I could do a true (or at least really close to true) wraparound of the sphere? Say, to make an earth at night.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/UV_Unwrapping_And_Texturing and the next page might help you.