A total solar eclipse plunged Antarctica from summer into darkness early Saturday in a rare astronomical spectacle witnessed by a handful of scientists and thrill-seekers—and countless penguins.
Space Exploration
18 hours ago
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Measuring a magnetic field isn't so hard if you're inside of it. Measuring a magnetic field remotely—whether from across a room, across a country, or 93 million miles away—is an entirely different story. But that's exactly ...
Space Exploration
Oct 05, 2021
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From traversing sand dunes in the Sahara Desert to keeping watch for polar bears in the Arctic, a group of solar scientists known as the "Solar Wind Sherpas" led by Shadia Habbal, have traveled to the ends of the Earth to ...
Space Exploration
Jun 16, 2021
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The top of the world got a sunrise special Thursday—a "ring of fire" solar eclipse.
Space Exploration
Jun 10, 2021
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In December 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, I made the somewhat questionable decision to fly 11,200km from where I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland to Santiago, Chile. Then, I boarded a connecting two-hour flight and ...
Space Exploration
Jun 09, 2021
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On May 20, 2021, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission achieved an important milestone, passing NASA's Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of its spacecraft and payload experiments. Southwest Research ...
Space Exploration
May 25, 2021
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The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a supermoon this week for quite a cosmic show.
Space Exploration
May 24, 2021
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About 17 years ago, J. Martin Laming, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, theorized why the chemical composition of the Sun's tenuous outermost layer differs from that lower down. His theory has recently ...
Astronomy
Mar 02, 2021
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As Chile and Argentina witnessed the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, unbeknownst to skywatchers, a little tiny speck was flying past the Sun—a recently discovered comet.
Space Exploration
Dec 18, 2020
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On Dec. 14, 2020, the Moon's shadow raced across Chile and Argentina, casting a thin ribbon of land into brief, mid-day darkness.
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2020
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A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra.
A total solar eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomenon and many people travel to remote locations to observe one. The 1999 total eclipse in Europe helped to increase public awareness of the phenomenon, as illustrated by the number of journeys made specifically to witness the 2005 annular eclipse and the 2006 total eclipse. The recent solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 was an annular eclipse (see below), while the solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 was a total solar eclipse.
In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
