NASA shares epic image of moon shadow over Arctic during solar eclipse

It might look like a smudge on your screen, but the latest NASA released image of our blue marble actually captures the moon’s shadow during the most recent solar eclipse.

The image, taken on June 10 and released by NASA on Wednesday, shows a fuzzy dark brown spot over the Arctic. The spot represents the shadow cast by the moon during the eclipse.

The “epic” photograph was taken by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a camera and telescope aboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite which takes more than a dozen photos every day. The satellite is in orbit around Lagrange’s point L1, a point of gravitational equilibrium between the Earth and the sun, located nearly a million kilometers away.

The high-quality images of the Earth taken by the camera are used by scientists to monitor a number of activities on our planet, including vegetation, cloud heights, smoke from forest fires and ozone. But in rare cases, it also captures spectacular views of eclipses.

“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 view or the moon casting a shadow over the Earth, ”said Dr. Adam Szabo. , the scientist of the DSCOVR NASA project.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, completely blocking sunlight. During an annular solar eclipse, the moon does not completely cover the sun as it passes, leaving a bright ring of sunlight visible.

Last month, sky-watching enthusiasts in Canada, Greenland and Russia had the opportunity to attend a annular eclipse. Parts of the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, the United States, and Africa experienced a partial solar eclipse, which appeared as a magnificent red-orange crescent, known as of “ring of fire”.

“EPIC also didn’t have too bad eyesight,” NASA said.