|
Credit & Copyright: Rainee Colacurcio
Explanation:
That's no sunspot.
It's the
International Space Station (ISS)
caught 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, in this recent two-image composite, the Sun
lacked any real sunspots.
The featured picture combines two images -- one capturing the space station transiting
the Sun -- and another taken consecutively capturing details of the Sun's surface.
Sunspots have been
rare on the
Sun
since the dawn of the current
Solar Minimum,
a period of low solar activity.
For reasons not yet fully understood, the
number of sunspots occurring during both
the previous and current solar minima have been
unusually
low.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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:
- APOD: 2024 September 2 Á A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
- APOD: 2024 August 18 Á A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 28 Á Sun Dance
- Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
- APOD: 2024 May 28 Á Solar X Flare as Famous Active Region Returns
- APOD: 2024 May 26 Á A Solar Filament Erupts