NASA’s SDO Observes Earth, Lunar Transits in Same Day

On March 2, 2013, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) entered its semiannual eclipse season, a period of three weeks when Earth blocks its view of the Sun for a period of time each day. On March 11, however, SDO was treated to two transits. Earth blocked SDO’s view of the Sun from about 2:15 to 3:45 a.m. EDT. Later in the same day, from around 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. EDT, the Moon moved in front of the Sun for a partial eclipse.

When Earth blocks the Sun, the boundaries of Earth’s shadow appear fuzzy, since SDO can see some light from the Sun coming through Earth’s atmosphere. The line of Earth appears almost straight, since Earth - from SDO’s point of view - is so large compared to the Sun.

The eclipse caused by the Moon looks far different. Since the Moon has no atmosphere, its curved shape can be seen clearly, and the line of its shadow is crisp and clean. Any spacecraft observing the Sun from an orbit around Earth has to contend with such eclipses, but SDO's orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, with only two three-week eclipse seasons each year. The 2013 spring eclipse season continues until March 26. The fall season will begin on September 2.

Images Credit: NASA/SDO
Explanation from: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/eclipse-spring2013.html

Aurora over Kongsberg

Kongsberg, Norway

December 4, 2010

Image Credit & Copyright: Odd Smedsrud

Sakurajima Volcano with Lightning

Why does a volcanic eruption sometimes create lightning? On this picture, the Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan was caught erupting in early January 2013. Magma bubbles so hot they glow shoot away as liquid rock bursts through the Earth's surface from below. This image is particularly notable, however, for the lightning bolts caught near the volcano's summit. Why lightning occurs even in common thunderstorms remains a topic of research, and the cause of volcanic lightning is even less clear. Surely, lightning bolts help quench areas of opposite but separated electric charges. One hypothesis holds that catapulting magma bubbles or volcanic ash are themselves electrically charged, and by their motion create these separated areas. Other volcanic lightning episodes may be facilitated by charge-inducing collisions in volcanic dust. Lightning is usually occurring somewhere on Earth, typically over 40 times each second.

Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Rietze
Explanation from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130311.html