| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
What Are These Giant Objects Passing The Sun?
March 09th 2013 till March 14th 2013 What Meteor is passing the Sun?
Credit: Ray Morrisson
On March 2, 2013, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) entered its semiannual eclipse season, a period of three weeks when Earth blocks its view of the sun for a period of time each day. On March 11, however, SDO was treated to two transits. Earth blocked SDO’s view of the sun from about 2:15 to 3:45 a.m. EDT. Later in the same day, from around 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. EDT, the moon moved in front of the sun for a partial eclipse.
The view of the sun is partially obscured by Earth as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Mar. 11, 2013, at 2:20 a.m. EDT.
Credit: NASA/SDO
This image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Mar. 11, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, shows the moon crossing in front of the sun.
Credit: NASA/SDO
When Earth blocks the sun, the boundaries of Earth’s shadow appear fuzzy, since SDO can see some light from the sun coming through Earth’s atmosphere. The line of Earth appears almost straight, since Earth — from SDO’s point of view — is so large compared to the sun.
The eclipse caused by the moon looks far different. Since the moon has no atmosphere, its curved shape can be seen clearly, and the line of its shadow is crisp and clean. Any spacecraft observing the sun from an orbit around Earth has to contend with such eclipses, but SDO’s orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, with only two three-week eclipse seasons each year. The 2013 spring eclipse season continues until March 26. The fall season will begin on Sept. 2.
Karen C. Fox
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Thank you! Great reporting!
looks like one of them is a comet to me.
its the moon idiot
lol
Cheesus I do detest it when people try to pull the wool over other people’s eyes!
Take on good hard look at the curve of the line of the moon. The moon always takes “a bite” out of the sun, since it fits perfectly into the circle of the sun.
Now go have a look at the bite on that other mother
It is almost a straight line! If we had a shark expert here – he might say the moon has a bite of a tiddler copmpared to that other mother.
The bite on the mystery object is ALMOST A STRAINGHT LINE.
I bet no one for at least three and a half thousand years has seen the eclipse caused by that other mother…