The spacecraft in Earth’s orbit experienced a rare phenomenon on the same day. Moon transport and Earth’s solar eclipse.
On July 25th, at various times, both the moon and the earth passed between the NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Sun.
SDO studies solar activity, including solar wind (flow of charged particles from the sun), solar flare flow, and changes in the solar magnetic field. These data help scientists predict solar activity that could affect the planet. The spacecraft was released in February 2010 and has been observing the sun almost continuously since May of that year.
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To keep eye contacting the sun, SDO is in Earth’s orbit around the Earth. In other words, we circle the planet once a day. The plane of the orbit is angled relative to the Earth’s axis of rotation, making the planets not in the way of observations. This means that the spacecraft usually takes in the sun’s view.
But sometimes the moon blocks that view. Several times a year, the moon partially covers the sun from the SDO perspective. According to SDO’s blog, the July 25th moon transit, which began around 2:45am on UTC, was SDO’s fourth partial solar eclipse since April. It also covered up to 62% of the deepest, solar discs, lasting about 50 minutes.
The Earth also occasionally passes between the SDO and the Sun. The SDO orbit is designed to minimize these interruptions to regular observations of craft, but about twice a year, the Earth blocks the Sun for a short period of time every day. According to NASA, these “Eclipse Seasons” each last about three weeks. SDO is in the middle of the 31st eclipse season, which begins on July 10th and continues until August 7th.
It began around 6:30 UTC, about three hours after the moon finished transport, and the Earth completely blocked the views of the Sun in SDO. According to the Solar Dynamics Observatory Blog, Eclipse totals ended just before 8:00 UTC.
The two events look a little different in the image of the Sun in SDO. The Earth’s atmosphere absorbs sunlight, so its shadow has ambiguous edges. Meanwhile, the moon with no atmosphere carves a refreshing circle from the sun’s disc.
This is not the first time that both the Earth and the Moon have gone on the SDO path on the same day. In 2015 and 2016, both bodies simultaneously covered the sun from the SDO perspective, resulting in a “double solar eclipse.”
Earth-bound eclipse spotters will have to wait several more weeks to catch the next event. A partial solar eclipse will be visible from parts of New Zealand and Australia on September 21st. The next total solar eclipse of the sun, visible from parts of Greenland, Iceland, Russia, Spain and Portugal will occur on August 12, 2026.
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