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Eclipse View from the ISS
The International Space Stat
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6/9/08
| Description |
The International Space Station (ISS) was in position to view the umbral (ground) shadow cast by the moon as it moved between Earth and the sun during a solar eclipse on March 29, 2006. This astronaut image captures the umbral shadow across southern Turkey, northern Cyprus and the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: NASA |
| Date |
6/9/08 |
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Total Eclipse of the Sun
On December 3, 2002, people
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6/9/08
| Description |
On December 3, 2002, people in Australia received a rare 32-second celestial show as the moon completely obscured the sun, creating a ring of light. Solar eclipses provide experts an opportunity to study the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona. This total eclipse was the first to cover Australian shores since 1976. The next is not predicted to occur for several more decades. While people in Australia were observing the solar eclipse, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft also had its eye on the sun. From its unique vantage point in space, scientists have been able to monitor the explosions on the sun that can impact us here on Earth. This image combines a photograph of the solar eclipse (showing the halo-like corona) with data taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope instrument aboard SOHO (showing the green inner regions). Image credit: NASA/ESA Text credit: NASA's Earth Observatory |
| Date |
6/9/08 |
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Martian Moons Transit the Su
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The upper-left of these imag
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6/9/08
| Description |
The upper-left of these images shows the passing, or transit, of the Martian moon Deimos across the sun. This event is similar to solar eclipses seen from Earth in which our moon crosses in front of the sun. The bottom three images show Phobos, Mars's other moon, transiting the sun. The potato-shaped Phobos is roughly 15 miles across, about twice the size of Deimos. Deimos appears so much smaller because it is also a bit more than twice as far away from Mars as Phobos is. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took images of both moons on different days in March 2004. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell |
| Date |
6/9/08 |
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STEREO Sees Lunar Transit
This transit of the moon acr
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6/9/08
| Description |
This transit of the moon across the sun on Feb. 25, 2007, could not be seen from Earth. This sight was visible only from the STEREO-B spacecraft in its orbit about the sun, trailing behind the Earth. NASA's STEREO mission consists of two spacecraft launched in October 2006 to study solar storms. When STEREO-B captured this image, it was about one million miles from the Earth. That's about 4.4 times farther away from the moon than we are on Earth. As a result, the moon appeared about 4.4 times smaller than what we are used to. This alignment of STEREO-B and the moon was not just due to luck. It was arranged with a small tweak to STEREO-B's orbit in December 2006. The sun as it appears here is a composite of images in four different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that were separated into color channels and then recombined. Image credit: NASA |
| Date |
6/9/08 |
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Arctic Eclipse
NASA's Terra satellite was r
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8/4/08
| Description |
NASA's Terra satellite was rounding the top of the globe, making its way from the eastern tip of Siberia and across the Arctic Ocean towards northern Norway and northwest Russia, when it captured this unique view of a total solar eclipse on Aug. 1, 2008. The circular disk of the Moon casts an oval-shaped shadow across the left edge of this image. In the region of totality, where the Moon entirely obscures the Sun, the shadow is complete. The edges of the shadow are fuzzy, gradually lightening from black to red, brown, and yellow until the shadow is no longer discernable. In these areas of semi-shadow, the Sun is only partially blocked. On any other day, the photo-like view captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite would be brilliant white since both the ever-present Arctic clouds and the ice that caps the northern sea reflect light. In this image, however, it is as if the world is painted in sepia: the low light casts a yellow-brown glow on much of the scene. The image was captured between 9:35 and 9:45 UTC. In the area shown in the image, the Sun was completely obscured for about two minutes. As Earth rotated, the shadow moved southeast across the surface. At the same time, the satellite crossed the Arctic, its path nearly perpendicular to the eclipse. Because the shadow was moving across Earth's surface as the satellite approached, it has a long oblong shape in this image. In an instantaneous snapshot from a platform that was not moving relative to Earth, the shadow would be more circular. Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team Text credit: Holli Riebeek, NASA's Earth Observatory |
| Date |
8/4/08 |
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What is a Tide?
In this NASA video segment l
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2008
| Description |
In this NASA video segment learn how the Sun, moon, and gravity all play a role in the creation of tides and waves. Color animation demonstrates how the moon, Sun, and Earth interact to create tides. A quick overview of waves is demonstrated in this video segment. This video is a NASA eClips (TM) program. |
| Date |
2008 |
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A Total Solar Eclipse over T
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| Title |
A Total Solar Eclipse over Turkey |
| Explanation |
Some views [ http://spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_29mar06.htm ] of last week's total eclipse [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_eclipse ] of the Sun were better than others. One spectacular view [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060331.html ] occurred over Adrasan (near Antalya [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antalya ]), Turkey [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey ] and was captured there by industrious astrophotographer Stefan Seip. The above digital mosaic [ http://www.photomeeting.de/astromeeting/sun/060329sofi_d1024.htm ] caught the Moon in several stages as it moved between the Earth and the Sun. During the center frame, a total solar eclipse [ http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html ] was visible, the Moon completely blocked the Sun, the area became dark, and the magnificent corona [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010408.html ] of the Sun became visible. The foreground frame from the same location was taken during sunlight. The next total eclipse [ http://mreclipse.com/Special/SEnext.html ] of the Sun will occur in August 2008 and be visible from parts of North America [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/north_america.html ], Europe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030324.html ], and Asia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia ]. |
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A Total Lunar Eclipse Over N
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| Title |
A Total Lunar Eclipse Over North Carolina |
| Explanation |
This coming Tuesday, our Moon will appear to disappear. A similar total lunar eclipse is seen above in a time lapse image [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031111.html ] captured in 2003 over North Carolina [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina ], USA [ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html ]. As the Earth moves between the Moon and the Sun, the Earth's shadow fell on the moon, making it quite dark [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010118.html ]. In the above picture the Earth's rotation, multiple exposures, and digital enhancements are used to create a time-lapse effect that dramatizes how the Moon looked as it faded out and re-appeared during the three hour lunar eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041029.html ]. As the Earth's shadow engulfed the Moon [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LEcatalog.html ], the lunar images became less and less bright, practically disappearing during totality [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960926.html ]. At this time, the Moon, which normally shines by reflecting direct sunlight, shone only by sunlight refracted [ http://www.geom.umn.edu/education/calc-init/rainbow/refraction.html ] through the Earth's atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html ]. The next total lunar eclipse won't be visible from Earth until February 2008. |
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Mars in View
| Title |
Mars in View |
| Explanation |
Very good telescopic views of Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/ viewing-tips-2007.html ] can be expected in the coming weeks as the Red Planet [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/mars/contents.htm ] nears opposition on December 24th. Of course [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060422.html ], opposition means opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky - an arrangement [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky03.html ] that occurs every 26 months for Mars. Because of Mars' [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html ] more elliptical orbit, the actual date of closest approach to Earth will be December 18, when Mars will be within about 88 million kilometers of our fair planet. Situated in the constellation Gemini and rising after evening twilight, the bright, ruddy disk of Mars will reach nearly 16 arcseconds [ http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ cosmic_reference/angular.html ] in diameter (about 1/100th the diameter of the Full Moon). In this already exceptional image taken on November 18, north is down and surface markings around the sprawling, dark, albedo feature Syrtis Major [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01592 ] are remarkably clear. The image was recorded with a video camera and filters on a 1 meter telescope at Pic Du Midi [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pic_du_Midi_de_Bigorre ], a mountain top observatory in the French Pyrenees. NASA launched the Phoenix [ http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php ] lander to Mars in August, scheduled to arrive in May 2008. |
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