Explanation: Few were able to stand in the Moon's shadow and watch the December 4 total eclipse of the Sun. Determined by celestial mechanics and not geographical boundaries, the narrow path of totality tracked across planet Earth's relatively inaccessible southernmost continent. Still, some enthusiastic and well-insulated eclipse chasers were rewarded with the dazzling spectacle in Antarctica's cold but clear skies. Taken just before the brief totality began, this image from a ground-based telescope inside the edge of the shadow path at Union Glacier catches a glimmer of sunlight near the top of the silhouetted lunar disk. Look closely for the pinkish solar prominences arcing above the Sun's limb. During totality, the magnificent solar corona, the Sun's outer atmosphere, made its much anticipated appearance, seen in the composite view streaming far from the Sun's edge.
Just curious. Would that glimmer of sunlight at the top of the disk be at the Sun's north pole? This is based on us northerners placing the north at the top of maps. Or since the picture was taken in Antarctica, and the constellations appear 'upside down', is that the Sun's south pole? But then it says taken just before totality, wouldn't that mean east is at the top since the moon crosses the Sun eastwards? Then my curiosity asks why wouldn't the APOD director put east on the left? Or right for the southern hemisphere?
De58te wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:26 pm
Would that glimmer of sunlight at the top of the disk be at the Sun's north pole? This is based on us northerners placing the north at the top of maps. Or since the picture was taken in Antarctica, and the constellations appear 'upside down', is that the Sun's south pole? But then it says taken just before totality, wouldn't that mean east is at the top since the moon crosses the Sun eastwards?
I'm guessing east since this particular eclipse path moved westward in West Antarctica but the moon still crosses the Sun eastward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_December_4,_2021 wrote:
<<A total solar eclipse took place on December 4, 2021, when the Moon passed between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. This eclipse was unusual as the path of the total eclipse moved from east to west across West Antarctica, while most eclipse paths move from west to east. This reversal is only possible in polar regions.>>
Postby m.lipson@rogers.com » Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:07 am
The moon is much smaller than the sun. The sun is much farther from the Earth than the moon.
Yet, when a total eclipse occurs, both solar and lunar, the diameter of each sphere and the shadow of the other sphere appear to an observer on Earth to be exactly the same size(diameter)!
What are the odds that this is a fortunate, but accidental coincidence? Or is it rather an indication that there is plan and purpose in the creation of the universe?
m.lipson@rogers.com wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:07 am
The moon is much smaller than the sun. The sun is much farther from the Earth than the moon.
Yet, when a total eclipse occurs, both solar and lunar, the diameter of each sphere and the shadow of the other sphere appear to an observer on Earth to be exactly the same size(diameter)!
What are the odds that this is a fortunate, but accidental coincidence? Or is it rather an indication that there is plan and purpose in the creation of the universe?
It's a coincidence. That's all. And it wasn't so in the past, and won't be in the future.
Chris
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Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory https://www.cloudbait.com
m.lipson@rogers.com wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:07 am
The moon is much smaller than the sun. The sun is much farther from the Earth than the moon.
Yet, when a total eclipse occurs, both solar and lunar, the diameter of each sphere and the shadow of the other sphere appear to an observer on Earth to be exactly the same size(diameter)! What are the odds that this is a fortunate, but accidental coincidence? Or is it rather an indication that there is plan and purpose in the creation of the universe?
It's a coincidence. That's all. And it wasn't so in the past, and won't be in the future.
The Moon's angular size varies from being 89.6% to 107.9% the size of the Sun.
The Moon is currently spiraling away from Earth at a rate of 1 part in 1010 per year.
The Moon will unable to totally eclipse the Sun 1 or 2 billion years hence.
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The first annular eclipse of the Sun probably occurred around the time of the Cambrian explosion.