Discover the cosmosEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation:Chasing the shadowof a New Moon, NASA’sWB-57Fhigh altitude research aircraft took to the skies off the coast of Iceland on August 12 to observe atotal solar eclipse.
At 50,000 feet the aircraft was piloted along the precisely determined path of totality to maximize its time in the Moon’s shadow.
A suite of high-resolution cameras on board was able torecord eclipse datafrom above the clouds, dust, and atmospheric water vapor that interfere with observations made closer to the ground.
This view from the cockpit, taken from an inflight video, captures thesolar corona emergingat the beginning of totality.
The sky appears dark in the shadow of the Moon.
Venus is shining left of center in the video frame, while Jupiter and Mercury are just visible to the right of the eclipsed Sun.
But the sky is bright along the distant horizon below, beyond the reach of the Moon’s shadow.
APOD’s main NASA site ismoving:Fromapod.nasa.govtoscience.nasa.gov/apod Tomorrow’s picture:enhancing Pluto