Published 15:13 IST, October 22nd 2020
NASA tweets video of moon ‘photobombing’ Sun; check stunning visuals
Moon “photobombed” sun with its guest appearance and obstructed view for over 50 minutes, and covered about 44% of the Sun at the peak as per NASA.
An image of a lunar transit captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in which the moon precariously orbits in front of the sun creating a lunar shadow and blocking the sun’s view has amused the internet. Sharing the post on its official Twitter handle, NASA wrote that the Moon “photobombed” the sun with its guest appearance and obstructed the sun’s view for over 50 minutes. “Moon covered about 44% of the Sun at the peak,” the space administration informed in the caption of the footage.
According to NASA, at least two or three times a year, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observes a rare phenomenon of the moon obstructing the view of the sun, blocking its view. This, in turn, bocks NASA’S solar observations for a while as the moon photobombs the sun and stays there. However, the scientist calls it a great chance for an interesting view of the shadow of the moon from another perspective. In the footage shared by NASA, the lunar surface’s horizon can be seen forming a silhouette against the vibrance of the sun. Moon camouflaging the sun caused jittery luminance on the solar surface in the visuals and the steady view was retrieved only after the phase ended.
“This occurs because the moon does not have an atmosphere,” NASA explained. The spectacular transit lasted between 3:05 p.m. and 3:53 p.m. ET. “During this time, the Moon also happened to cover two of the spacecraft’s fine-guidance sensors,” NASA wrote in the release.
[This is an image of a lunar transit as viewed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, with a model of the moon from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter replacing the lunar shadow. Roll your mouse over the image to see it the original SDO image with the lunar shadow. Credit: NASA/SDO/LRO/GSFC.]
[Moon photobombed NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, also in 2017 when it crossed the spacecraft’s view of the Sun, treating us to these shadowy images. Credit: NASA]
[NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO, saw two lunar transits as the Moon passed in front of the Sun in 2018. Credit: NASA]
Lunar transit that lasted 4 hours
SDO witnesses lunar transits regularly, as the moon occasionally passes in front of its view of the Sun, and NASA has shared many such events in the past. According to NASA, the phenomenon is similar to retrograde motion. “When a celestial object appears to move backward because of the way that different objects move at different speeds at different points in their orbits. In this case, the first part of the transit — when the Moon moves left to right — appears to be "reverse" motion,” astronauts elaborated in the release. The footage captured last year showed a lunar transit that lasted for 4 hours as SDO was at about 1.9 miles per second perpendicular to the Sun-Earth line when the clip was captured.
Updated 15:12 IST, October 22nd 2020