Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


APOD: 2023 October 8 Á Plane, Clouds, Moon, Spots, Sun
<< Yesterday 7.10.2023 Tomorrow >>
APOD: 2023 October 8 Á Plane, Clouds, Moon, Spots, Sun
Credit & Copyright: Doyle and Shannon Slifer
Explanation: What's that in front of the Sun? The closest object is an airplane, visible just below the Sun's center and caught purely by chance. Next out are numerous clouds in Earth's atmosphere, creating a series of darkened horizontal streaks. Farther out is Earth's Moon, seen as the large dark circular bite on the upper right. Just above the airplane and just below the Sun's surface are sunspots. The main sunspot group captured here, AR 2192, was in 2014 one of the largest ever recorded and had been crackling and bursting with flares since it came around the edge of the Sun a week before. This show of solar silhouettes was unfortunately short-lived. Within a few seconds the plane flew away. Within a few minutes the clouds drifted off. Within a few hours the partial solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon was over. Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even unexpected alignments are surprisingly frequent. Perhaps one will be imaged this Saturday when a new partial solar eclipse will be visible from much of North and South America.

APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < October 2023  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su






1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031




Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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: partial solar eclipse
Publications with words: partial solar eclipse
See also:
All publications on this topic >>