NASA releases epic images of moon shadow over Arctic



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On June 10 of this year, citizens of parts of Greenland, Russia and Canada found themselves in eerie midday darkness. In the sky above, over 250,000 miles, the Moon was moving in front of the Sun, blocking a circle of photons that would otherwise have touched Earth. Now NASA has released images of the recent solar eclipse. And it was really epic.

An image of the Earth with a dollop of shadow over its Arctic generated by the Moon moving between our planet and the Sun.

An image of the Earth with a dollop of shadow over its Arctic generated by the Moon moving between our planet and the Sun.

Nasa

Gizmodo reported on new NASA images of the June 10 solar eclipse. The astronomical phenomenon, as the space agency notes, was a “full annular” eclipse. Or an eclipse in which the Moon is at its farthest point from Earth, appearing smaller than the Sun in the sky. “As the two align,” notes NASA, “the Sun appears as a ring of fire surrounding the dark disc of the Moon.”

In the video immediately below, NASA explains the physics behind the phenomenon. That is, how the Moon moving between the Sun and the Earth causes a shadow to appear on our planet. The space agency notes that the distance between the three bodies means viewers can see a slice of red sun in the dark for a three-hour game. (It takes about three hours for the Moon to move away from the Sun.)

The space agency captured the eclipse using its camera and its Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (or EPIC) telescope. The combined instrument is on board the NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite (DSCOVR), which means he took these photos almost a million kilometers from Earth.

“Taking images of the sunny half of the Earth at a distance four times farther away than the orbit of the Moon keeps creating surprises, like sometimes the Moon entering our field of vision, or the Moon casting a shadow on Earth, ”Dr. Adam Szabo, said NASA’s DSCOVR project scientist in the NASA statement. Indeed, we earthlings seem to like to be lunatics.

A visualization of the Earth, Moon, and Sun during a full annular eclipse.

A visualization of the Earth, Moon, and Sun during a full annular eclipse.

Nasa

Featured Image: NASA

The NASA article publishes epic images of the moon’s shadow over the Arctic first appeared on Nerdist.

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