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The moon takes a bite out of the sun's disk in this extreme ultraviolet view from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The heavens have to align just right for a solar eclipse — and for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, today was the day the heavens aligned. The only place where you could see today's partial eclipse was in outer space. But don't worry: Some of us earthlings will get a couple of chances later this year.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory watches the sun in multiple wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light from a vantage point in geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
Sometimes other celestial bodies muscle in on SDO's view of the sun. Earth itself gets in the way twice a year, around the time of the spring and autumn equinoxes. Today, it was the moon's turn to take a bite out of the sun's bright disk.
Although this brief obstruction cut into the $850 million mission's observing time, the SDO team tried to make use of the opportunity, project scientist Dean Pesnell said in a blog posting. During its transit, the moon blocked the probe's view of an active region on the sun. That caused a dip in the energy recorded by the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE, which "may allow scientists to calibrate the energy emitted by the active region," Pesnell said.
SpaceWeather.com's Tony Phillips mentions another opportunity provided by the eclipse: "The sharp edge of the lunar limb helps researchers measure the in-orbit characteristics of the telescope ... how light diffracts around the telescope's optics and filter support grids. Once these are calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen the images even more than before."
Observers in a wide swath of East Asia, the Pacific and western North America will be able to see a partial solar eclipse with their own eyes on May 20. Some lucky folks will see something even rarer: an annular eclipse, in which the moon covers up most of the sun but leaves a thin ring of the bright disk shining in the sky. The U.S. West Coast and Southwest will be prime territory for that "ring of fire" eclipse.
On Nov. 13, a total solar eclipse will be visible from a corner of Australia and a long strip of the Pacific Ocean. You'll be hearing a lot more about these eclipses as we get closer to the events. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this time-lapse view of the space eclipse:
Spectacular images of a partial solar eclipse caught on video by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
More views of the sun:
Updated at 9:40 p.m. ET Feb. 23 to add the "Nightly News" video of the space eclipse.
Alan Boyle is science editor for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding the Cosmic Log Google+ page to your circles. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Fan-freaking-tastic.
cool!
That's so hot.
Yeah...prove to me that is a moon in the upper right corner and I'll sell you ocean front property in South Dakota. It was his son's baseball, for crying out loud on some old video images of the sun.
Boyle's paid to write this stuff, too.
What?
You one sad goof ball.
You're one of those LaRouchebags, ain't'cha, Mackie?
Mackie , prove to us that you are human ....
Mackie, switch to decaf tomorrow and be sure to leave out the liquor.
Yes, he makes his living doing this. And he's good at it! And there were no baseballs involved!
Hard to believe that the outward flow of radiation and energy produced by hydrogen fusion on that scale is exactly balanced by gravity inward to make a self-sustaining sun over eons of time.
Well, anywhere where that is NOT true, there isn't a star, is there? There's either a bunch of material that didn't have enough mass to form into a star, or there's the remnants of an explosion. :P
If I may expand on MSpielman's excellent point, stellar equilibrium is regulated by a feedback mechanism:
If gravity "has the upper hand", and is somewhat greater than the outward force of fusion, then the star will contract somewhat. As it contracts, pressure increases in the star's core, raising the temperature, which stokes the fire of fusion - increasing the force pushing out >>> back to equilibrium.
If, however, fusion has the upper hand, the star expands, pressure drops in the core - dropping the temperature, and slowing the fusion process. Less fusion leads to less outward force, gravity becomes the greater of the two forces >>> back to equilibrium.
It's a stellar teeter-totter.
We do see a great number of "variable" stars - stars that do not have the opposing forces of gravity and fusion in balance, which we observe pulsating (becoming alternately brighter and dimmer), often on a very regular schedule. Polaris, a.k.a. The North Star, is a mildly variable star. In the middle of a star's life it tends to be very stable, much like our Sun. But at the beginning, and at the end, of a star's life - when fusion is not the steady process which we see at mid-life, stars may be wildly (perhaps even catastrophically) variable.
That suggests that there were many failed stars that did become catastrophic. Red dwarfs on the other hand are stable semi-stars that never had enough hydrogen around to grow into real stars. I believe the Shwartzchild radius is what determines what comes to life and what doesn't?
Actually, the Schwarzschild radius is the size of the "event horizon" of a non-rotating black hole. Red dwarfs are just massive enough to be "real stars," something like 7% the mass of the Sun. You're probably thinking of brown dwarfs, which don't have quite enough hydrogen for nuclear fusion.
I was thinking of the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs but that too doesn't apply.
Total solar eclipses are almost always happening somewhere in the system at any given time (except during a lunar eclipse)...they're just not always pointed toward the Earth.
Yup, you just have to be in the right place at the right time, even if that place happens to be in space. Something to think about for the far future ... sending tourists on a space eclipse cruise. ;-)
The photo and video.... Wow, so Beautiful. I teared up. The Immensity of our local Space.
Thanks for doing this story, Alan. I'm just glad to see a picture of the sun this time of year. Damn thing's been hidden by 30,000 feet of clouds for 19 of 21 days this month between Vancouver BC and Vancouver WA. David Duchovny was right. Winters in the Pacific Northwest are teh suck. :-(
Don't be an astronomer on the NW coast.
The light pollution everywhere else is a real killjoy too.
Ha! I bitched and moaned so much, there's not a single cloud in the sky here today! We might actually see our shadows up in the Northwest.
(Of course, it will probably start raining and blustering just in time to block out Venus and Jupiter tonight....)
Awesome, absolutely awesome. To see the sun in such detail is pure beauty.
Extreme humbling moment, those images! Got humility? The vastness of the universes put people in perspective. So, now why can"t we take better care of ourselves so that a future is possible, to explore the wonders of life here, as well as so far away? Why why I here many ask http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49z3cheFN20
Santorum said that God doesnt make eclipses, so that was a fake created by Muslims, or Obama
and your "the winner" dan. thanks for being the first person to post your idiotic political pap on a science thread. your post is marked as "no value whatsoever".
what a sad life you must lead if when you look at an eclipse you are moved to make stoopid inane political comments.
i suggest you look at the rest of the posts on this page for examples of posts that are far better than yours; in fact, just about every other post on this page is far superiour to yours.
Alan Boyle , another nice job ....
I watched the video over and over , stopping it many times , good stuff ....
The green wavelength was really cool , like boiling green plasma ....
Thanks ....
I saw something a lot like this in the late 70's.
What is that dark red gun shaped object on the sun that might be something real to worry about.
We will be learning more about the events ? More to come in 2012 hmmm Hey it looks hotter than hell maybe it is hell. in the mean time relax and focus on the events. 12 /01/2012
To Cool.......... Glad to live in a day and age to be able to see such things!
Pretty amazing.
Does anyone have an easy way to explain geosynchronus orbit to us puny humans? If one places a satellite at so many miles above the center of the earth, the satellite will remain in that position above the earth?
How does that work?
I'll be off in some aspects of this description, but you may get the idea. As the distance of the orbit from the earth increases, the 'orbital speed' (speed fast enough that centripetal force just equals force of gravity) decreases. At a precise distance, that orbital speed creates an orbital time of exactly one day. The satellite moves at exactly the same speed as the earth below. I believe this is possible only if the orbit is exactly at the equator.
Yes, in low Earth orbit a satellite orbits the Earth about every 90 minutes, but at about 22,000 miles up, the orbital period is about 24 hours, matching the rotation of the Earth. The satellite also needs to be directly above the Earth's equator to remain in a constant position.
Occam & Eric:
Thank you. Trying to explain the modern world to myself is getting harder by the day:-) I am currently working under the assumption, that the lower the orbit, the faster the speed.
In fact, the objects put into space are "riding" in the opposite direction, tethered to a spinning earth, is that correct? Once in an achieved orbit, they just stay at that level while maintaining a certain speed, corrected by retro rockets should the orbit start to decay. Is that correct?
Do either of you have any idea as why GeoSync works ONLY over the Equator? Since they are tethered to the center of the earth in concept, why wouldn't they work anywhere? Or do they?
I read Arthur Clarke's 2061 a while back, the GeoSync Elevators got my attention. So much to learn....
There really is no "tether," unless you consider gravity to be a tether. In a circular orbit, satellites do indeed stay at a fixed level (altitude) at constant speed, until slowed by air drag, which could then require a reboost to prevent eventual reentry. GeoSync would still work for inclined (non-equatorial orbits), except that the satellite would appear to drift north and south in latitude (with respect to the Earth below) over the course of a day.
How silly -- an article about science, wherein the solar system is referred to as 'the heavens' ??
For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow (pause), and so say all of us!
Sun looking nice and toasty; Now if we could only agree on the greenhouse effect before it shows us how toasty it can be. Planet Venus comes to mind. 800 hundred in the shade!
april should be , well, jarring..torrii...
We should launch Santorum into the Sun.
Great Video!
Whodathunk. 50 years ago all this exciting stuff was mere sci-fi. The Man from UNCLE and Get Smart were the leading edge for electronic gizmos. We would sit in rapt awe staring at Elia Kuriakin using his phone pen to call Mr Waverly.
And for those of you who have no idea who Elia Kuriakin was, watch NCIS.
very kewl pics,,, the ejecta in the lower right corner is interesting,,and the "loop" effect on other material as well,,I wonder, what is being ejected that we cant see??..even with instruments?..I also wonder,, could an eclipse be partly responsible for the moon having a "rough side"[increased thermal expansion??],.. hmmm...well,, anyways,,, very kewl imagery,.."camera,s" have come a long way fast since they became totally digital havent they??..last total I saw was in 1990 or so, and the ring effect was there and well as the red shift,,,, very kewl thing to see,,, and ponder for that matter,,, we are such infants the instant we go off planet are we not??...
I have long wondered about the celestial mechanics of sending a spacecraft to the vertex of the Moon's shadow and staying with it , in order to " cruise" the eclipse phenomena, passing in and out of totality, Baily's Beads, the Diamond Ring , Annularity... and stay there for a good long while as a sightseer. I'm wondering if that kind of trajectory is possible, the stay with an eclipse for hours and navigate and explore its various phenomena... see all an eclipse has to offer over an expanded period of time instead of 5-7 minutes max. They used to chase solar eclipses with the Concorde here on Earth , and could stay in the Moon's shadow for maybe 30 minutes. Not...long...enough. That shadow is always out there somewhere. You just have to chase it down and follow it.
That's the cruise I would like to take as a Space Tourist. What does it take to launch into an orbital arc that stays with the Moon's Shadow vertex ? Somebody PLEASE run that potential orbit and say it can be done.
The moon's shadow typically takes about 4 hours to sweep across the Earth; anything in low orbit moves much faster. I suppose in principle you could put a satellite in a higher orbit that matched the speed of the moon's shadow for a while, but it would only work a couple of times (or so) per year, and would require fuel-intensive orbital maneuvers to re-position itself for each subsequent eclipse ... not very practical with today's rockets. Using a supersonic aircraft is more practical (as you noted), if only we had one designed for eclipse viewing (for example, with overhead windows)!
Oh WOW....not THAT is cool
I thot you have to be somewhat wealthy to live in Ft.Lauderdale?