Click image for movie. Also available on YouTube
Partial Solar Eclipse of 2011/11/25
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Unless you're a penguin, you probably didn't see the solar eclipse that occurred last week over Antarctica, Tasmania, southern South Africa, and most of New Zealand. Fortunately, XRT was on the job to capture this spectacular footage of the event. And as a bonus resulting from Hinode's orbital mechanics, three eclipses are observed for every one seen from the ground! This was the last solar eclipse of 2011; the next one won't occur for another six months on May 20th, 2012. It's also worth noting that XRT and solar eclipses are related in a way that might not be immediately obvious. Before space-based telescopes like XRT and its predecessors were developed, the only way to study the solar corona was by observing the sun during a total solar eclipse. This was (and still is) a very challenging endeavor that required lots of advanced planning and specialized equipment that could be carted all over the world. And then, just when you have everything set up just so, it could still be cloudy! Keywords: Eclipse, Full Disk Filters: Ti_poly |
(Prepared by Patrick McCauley)
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