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Credit: Martin Wagner
Explanation:
That's no sunspot.
It's the
International Space Station (ISS)
caught by chance passing in front of the Sun.
Sunspots, individually, have a dark central
umbra, a lighter surrounding penumbra,
and no solar panels.
By contrast, the ISS is a complex and multi-spired mechanism,
one of the largest and most sophisticated machines ever created by
humanity.
Also, sunspots occur on the
Sun, whereas the ISS orbits the
Earth.
Transiting the Sun is not very unusual for the
ISS, which orbits the Earth about every 90 minutes,
but getting one's timing and equipment just right for a
great
image is rare.
Strangely, besides that fake spot, the Sun, last week,
lacked any real sunspots.
Sunspots have been
rare
on the Sun since the dawn of the current
Solar Minimum,
a period of low solar activity.
Although fewer sunspots have been
recorded during this
Solar Minimum
than for
many previous decades,
the low solar activity is
not, as yet, very unusual.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: ISS - Sun
Publications with words: ISS - Sun
See also:
- The International Space Station Expands Again
- Dextre Robot at Work on the Space Station
- Chasing the ISS
- A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence
- A Supply Ship Docks with the International Space Station
- APOD: 2008 April 1- New Space Station Robot Asks to be Called Dextre the Magnificent
- ISS: Sunlight to Shadow