for-all-mankind:SDO captures rare double eclipse visible from space and ground.NASA’s Solar Dynamics
for-all-mankind:SDO captures rare double eclipse visible from space and ground.NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this stunning video of both the Earth and Moon passing within its line of sight September 1st. For a period of three weeks twice a year - centered around the spring and autumnal equinoxes - SDO captures the Earth transiting the solar disk. This is a unique feature of sun-observing spacecraft, but mission planners have optimized the spacecraft’s geostationary orbit to minimize for the effect.At around the same time SDO was taking images of the double transit, observers in Africa and Europe were seeing the same phenomena from the ground - as an annular solar eclipse. The three-minute long eclipse saw the Moon block out the center of the solar disk. The images taken by SDO also demonstrate a phenomena used on a larger scale to detect exoplanets in different solar systems. The outline of the Moon is sharp and crisp compared to Earth’s, which is fuzzy due to its extensive atmosphere.Light levels from distant stars will slightly fade periodically, indicating to scientists a planetary body in front of it. The level at which the starlight fades determine if it has been refracted by an atmosphere. Chemical compositions can also be vaguely determined in this manner.Launched in 2010, SDO has a constant eye on the Sun, taking images in more than ten wavelengths over three instruments. P/C: NASA. -- source link
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