APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

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APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Dec 09, 2021 5:05 am

Image A Total Eclipse of the Sun

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.

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heehaw

Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by heehaw » Thu Dec 09, 2021 11:39 am

I believe Jay Pasachoff must hold the world's record for number of total solar eclipses attended!

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by De58te » Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:26 pm

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?

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:29 pm

SOLARECLIPSE2021FORDISTROHighRes.jpg
Diamond ring efect;way down under> Anartica! 8-)
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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by NCTom » Thu Dec 09, 2021 1:29 pm

I've always admired astronomers working in mid winter in their open-domed observatories, but this is real commitment even if it is summer down there!

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by JohnD » Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:00 pm

Where does "just before the brief totality" stop and Bailey's Beads begin?
John

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by neufer » Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:06 pm


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.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by Jim Armstrong » Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:47 pm

Did all the birds fall silent?

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by neufer » Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:56 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Jim Armstrong wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:47 pm
Did all the birds fall silent?
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by 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?

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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Dec 10, 2021 2:08 pm

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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Re: APOD: A Total Eclipse of the Sun (2021 Dec 09)

Post by neufer » Fri Dec 10, 2021 3:14 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Fri Dec 10, 2021 2:08 pm
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.
............................................................................................................
The first annular eclipse of the Sun probably occurred around the time of the Cambrian explosion.
Art Neuendorffer

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