A solar eclipse … from SPACE! NASA spacecraft captures the moon passing in front of the sun in stunning images capturing “sunlit moonlit mountains”
- NASA spacecraft has captured the moon passing in front of the sun from space in a series of stunning images
- The solar eclipse was not visible from Earth and lasted only 35 minutes, but was captured by the camera from space.
- Close-up images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory show lunar mountain ranges illuminated by eddies of solar flames
- NASA experts have identified the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges near the South Pole of the Moon
By Fiona Jackson for Mailonline
Posted: 17:55, 30 June 2022 | Updated: 5:56 PM, June 30, 2022
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A NASA satellite captured stunning images of a partial solar eclipse from its unique point of view in space, the only place where it was visible.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) photographed the moon passing in front of the sun yesterday from 05:20 BST (01:20 ET).
The transit lasted about 35 minutes and at its peak, the moon covered 67 percent of the burning surface.
The spacecraft then returned a series of images from the event showing “solar-lit lunar mountains,” according to SpaceWeather.com experts.
Bumps and irregularities can be seen on the surface of the moon through which it passed which have been identified as part of the Leibnitz and Doerfel ranges.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of a 35-minute partial solar eclipse from its unique point of view in space, the only place where it was visible.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the moon passing in front of the sun yesterday from 05:20 BST (01:20 ET)
The spacecraft returned a series of images from the event showing “solar-lit lunar mountains,” according to SpaceWeather.com experts.
WHAT IS A SOLAR ECLIPSE?
Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow over the Earth.
There are several types, depending on the part of the sun that looks dark to a viewer in a given location.
Solar eclipses only occur approximately every six months, a consequence of how the moon does not orbit completely in the same plane around the Earth as the planet as it orbits the sun.
Patricio Leon, of Santiago, Chile, compared close-up images of the moon moving through the sun with a topographic map of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
He was able to identify the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges near the South Pole of the Moon during the eclipse.
SpaceWeather.com experts said: “At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon covered 67 percent of the sun and the lunar mountains were backlit by solar fire.
“High – resolution images like these can help the SDO scientific team better understand the telescope.
“They reveal how light diffracts around SDO optics and filter support grids.
“Once calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen the images of the sun even more than before.”
Launched in 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory monitors the sun with a fleet of spacecraft, taking pictures of it every 0.75 seconds.
It also studies the sun’s magnetic field, atmosphere, sunspots and other aspects that influence activity during the 11-year solar cycle.
The sun has been experiencing intense activity for a few months now, as it appears to be moving to a particularly active period of its 11-year activity cycle, which began in 2019 and is expected to reach maximum in 2025.
The sun’s magnetic poles rotate at the peak of the solar activity cycle, and a solar wind composed of charged particles moves the magnetic field away from the sun’s surface and through the solar system.
This accompanies an increase in solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) from the sun’s surface.
A CME is a significant release of plasma and the accompanying magnetic field from the solar corona, the outermost part of the solar atmosphere, to the solar wind.
CMEs only affect the Earth when they are directed in the direction of our planet and tend to be much slower than solar flares, as they move a greater amount of matter.
Patricio Leon, of Santiago, Chile, compared close-up images of the moon moving through the sun with a topographic map of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. He was able to identify the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges near the south pole of the moon during the eclipse.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), shown here in the illustration, studies how solar activity is created and how the spatial climate results from this activity.
The energy of a flare can alter the area of the atmosphere through which radio waves travel, which can cause temporary blackouts in navigation and communications signals.
On the other hand, CMEs have the power to propel the Earth’s magnetic fields, creating currents that lead particles to the Earth’s poles.
When these react with oxygen and nitrogen, they help create the aurora, also known as boreal and austral light.
In addition, magnetic changes can affect a variety of human technologies, causing GPS coordinates to deviate a few meters and overload power grids when power companies are unprepared.
There has been no CME or extreme solar flare in the modern world (the last was the Carrington event in 1859) that created a geomagnetic storm with an aurora appearing around the world, as well as fires at the stations of telegraph.
WHAT IS THE SATELLITE OF NASA’S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY?
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a NASA mission that has been observing the sun since 2010.
Its ultra-HD cameras convert different wavelengths of light into an image that humans can see, and then the light is colored into a rainbow of colors.
The satellite was launched on February 11, 2010 from Cape Canaveral.
The SDO contains a set of instruments that provide observations that will lead to a more complete understanding of the solar dynamics that drive variability in the Earth’s environment.
One of the many amazing images that SDO has provided
Tasks that this set of instruments can accomplish include measuring ultraviolet light, variations in the sun’s magnetic file, taking images of the chromosphere and inner corona, and capturing solar variations that may exist over different periods of time. of a solar cycle.
It does so, using three separate computers: the Heliosismic and Magnetic Imager; Atmospheric Image Montage; and Experiment of extreme ultraviolet variability.
Scientific teams receive this data, which they then process, analyze, archive, and publish to the public.