PIA21213: Spring 2019 Eclipse Season Arrives
 Target Name:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  SDO
 Instrument:  Atmosphere Imaging Assembly
 Product Size:  1650 x 1540 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  SDO
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21213.tif (2.94 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21213.jpg (152.9 kB)

Click on image above for all movie download options

Original Caption Released with Image:

The SDO spacecraft is in another eclipse season as of Feb. 6, 2019. This begins a several week period when the Earth briefly blocks SDO's view of the Sun each day. In fact, because SDO orbits above the Mountain Time zone, the Earth passes between SDO and the Sun at about 7:20 UT (12:20 am MT) each orbit. Eclipses are due to SDO's circular geosynchronous orbit some 22,000 miles above Earth. At the speed we are showing the frames, the eclipse is only a flicker. The still image shows that the edge of Earth, here about halfway across the Sun, looks quite rough due to the absorption of the 304 Å EUV light by our atmosphere.

Movies
PIA21213_3transit304_big.mp4
PIA21213_3transit304_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Image Addition Date:
2019-02-19