The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration’s solar-monitoring aircraft (NASA) capture the eclipse view Sun on Wednesday (29/6). Uniquely, this view can only be enjoyed from outer space.
Collect SpaceThe spacecraft, called the Solar Dynamic Observatory, captured the eclipse of the Sun from its unique vantage point in space. Only there the eclipse can be seen.
“At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon covered 67 percent of the Sun and the Moon’s mountains were illuminated by the Sun’s flames,” the statement said Spaceweather.com.
SDO typically observes the Sun as a source of space weather, or radiation in space that affects Earth. Aspects he studies include the Sun’s magnetic field, sunspots, and other aspects that affect activity during the Sun’s 11-year regular cycle.
“SDO studies how solar activity is created and drives space weather. Measurements of the Sun’s interior, atmosphere, magnetic field, and energy output by spacecraft all work to help us understand the stars we live in,” NASA wrote in this mission report.
SDO itself was launched in February 2010 and is part of a network of solar spacecraft from NASA and its partner, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Furthermore, scientists are interested in following the causes of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which contain charged particles and can create colorful aurorae in Earth’s atmosphere if the CME is directed at our planet.
CMEs are ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s atmosphere called the corona. Compared to the sun’s flames, CME’s electromagnetic radiation reaches Earth more slowly.
The highest speed it can reach to get to Earth is 3,000 km per second. Meanwhile, the slow speed of CME electromagnetic radiation is at 250 km/second.
Usually CMEs are harmless, but powerful explosions can disrupt satellites, power lines, and other infrastructure.
Launch ForbesThis is not the first time that a solar eclipse can only be seen from space. During the 1960s and 1970s, astronauts on the Apollo missions saw the Sun being blocked by the Moon while they were on their missions.
Neil Armstrong even said that, rather than being recorded as the first person to set foot on the Moon, his travel experiences were the most memorable during the Apollo 11 mission.
Furthermore, the Moon is not the only satellite that can cause a solar eclipse. Earlier this year, the Mars satellite, Phobos, could also cause a similar scene, as caught on camera belonging to NASA’s Perserverance probe.
(lom/lth)
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