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Credit & Copyright: Doyle 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, is one of the largest ever recorded and has
been
crackling and bursting with
flares since it came around the edge of the Sun early last week.
Taken last Thursday, 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.
Only the sunspot group remains, but within a few more days even AR 2192 will disappear
around the edge of the Sun.
Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even
unexpected alignments are
surprisingly frequent.
Gallery:
Last Thursday's Partial Solar Eclipse
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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: partial solar eclipse - airplane
Publications with words: partial solar eclipse - airplane
See also: