A photo voltaic eclipse is all the time a fantastic alternative for some gorgeous photographs. Simply take a look at this one… Or this one! Whereas we’ll solely see yet one more photo voltaic eclipse right here from the Earth this yr, NASA’s Photo voltaic Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will get to see extra.
On 29 June, SDO captured the moon passing in entrance of the solar, forming a partial photo voltaic eclipse. It was solely seen from the spacecraft’s vantage level, however NASA shared the picture and animation with us right here on Earth.
The moon transit lasted between 01:19 and 1:54 am ET. At its peak, the Moon coated about 67% of the Solar and the occasion lasted for about 35 minutes. As House Climate stories, the lunar mountains had been backlit by photo voltaic hearth, though it’s tough to catch whereas simply observing the transit. Nevertheless, you possibly can see it on this close-up picture of the Moon’s limb:
What’s extra, Patricio Leon from Santiago, Chile even managed to determine the lunar mountains. As House Climate writes, “they’re a part of the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges close to the Moon’s south pole”. Have a look:
“The highest panel is a topography map from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO),” Leon explains. “Every crimson dot within the LRO map is called within the eclipse picture beneath it.” Greek letters denote peaks within the Doerfel vary; the others are within the Leibnitz vary.
[via PetaPixel; image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams]
