NASA Captures Spooky Photo of the Moon’s Shadow on Earth During an Eclipse

Earthlings had been aware about an thrilling astronomical occasion final month: an annular photo voltaic eclipse, which solid a lunar shadow throughout the Arctic Circle. Today NASA shared a picture of that shadow, taken by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory almost one million miles from Earth.

Since the Moon is way nearer to Earth than EPIC, our lunar companion often hops into photos EPIC is making an attempt to seize of Earth, and eclipse shadows additionally include that territory. “Taking images of the sunlit half of Earth from a distance four times further than the Moon’s orbit never ceases to provide surprises, like occasionally the Moon getting in our field of view, or the Moon casting shadow on Earth,” mentioned Adam Szabo, the mission scientist on the DSCOVR staff, in a NASA release. Launched in 2015, EPIC (aboard DSCOVR) has now imaged a number of eclipse shadows throughout Earth’s face: the annular eclipse final month joins complete eclipse occasions within the 2016 and 2017 as being captured by EPIC.

Annular photo voltaic eclipses occur when the Moon strikes between Earth and the Sun, inflicting the star to look as a fiery halo across the Moon’s black silhouette. The current eclipse on June 10 was partially seen to folks in components of the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Lucky people in components of Canada, Russia, and Greenland might bask within the shadow of the “ring of fire” annular photo voltaic eclipse. But nobody on Earth had EPIC’s view, which captured the black-brown antumbra of the Moon tenting on our planet’s North Pole. The Moon’s shadow appears like a little bit of mould spreading on a fruit. Or, as one Gizmodo editor exclaimed upon viewing the picture: “EARTH IS HAUNTED.”

EPIC usually pictures the Earth to check its local weather—to present researchers on Earth a continuing stream of details about the planet’s cloud cowl, vegetation, and ozone. It lately captured images of the West Coast wildfires, seen even at EPIC’s distance. The satellite tv for pc (DSCOVR) that hosts the digicam sits at some extent of gravitational stability between the Sun and Earth, referred to as the L1 Lagrange Point. (It’s one in all 5 such factors; when it launches, the James Webb Space Telescope is headed for L2.)

While complete photo voltaic eclipses blot out the Sun utterly, annular photo voltaic eclipses go away that photo voltaic halo across the Moon, creating an arguably cooler image for viewers on Earth. This occurs as a result of the Moon is extra distant from Earth throughout an annular photo voltaic eclipse, making it too small in our subject of view to completely cowl the Sun.

If you missed this annular eclipse, to not fear. If you’re within the Western Hemisphere, you could possibly see one other one in 2023.

More: The 9 Best Photos of This Morning’s Sunrise Eclipse