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Eclipse Season for SDO

Aug. 25, 2016
Several times a day for a few days this week the Earth completely blocked the Sun for about an hour due to NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory orbital path (Aug. 25, 2016).

Several times a day for a few days this week the Earth completely blocked the Sun for about an hour due to SDO's orbital path (Aug. 25, 2016). The edge of the Earth is not crisp, but rather kind of fuzzy due to Earth's atmosphere. The entire video clip here shows the beginning of one such eclipse, covering just seven minutes. These occur about every six months. The Moon blocks SDO's view of the Sun on occasion as well.

Movies
PIA21027_Earth_Sun_eclipse171_big.mp4
PIA21027_Earth_Sun_eclipse171_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

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