Moon photobombs NASA sun shot (photo)

30 Jul 2014

Image via NASA/SDO

OK, it isn’t photobombing exactly, but a lunar transit. US space agency NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) photographed the spectacle that occurs when the moon passes between the SDO and the sun.

The lunar transit occurred this past Saturday from 10.57am-11.42am EST (3.57pm-4.42pm Irish time) and the SDO photographed the partial solar eclipse that can only be seen from SDO’s point of view.

The moon’s horizon looks crisp in the image, because the moon has no atmosphere that would distort light, NASA said.

The image blends different SDO wavelengths – one in 304 wavelength and another in 171 wavelength – to produce an enhanced image of the sun.

A lunar transit happens about twice a year, NASA added.

This gif shows the path of the moon across the SDO’s field of view for this lunar transit.:
 
 
Via NASA/SDO team
Here is the full image:
 

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

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