Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured the Moon passing in front of the Sun with incredible clarity the other day. The transit took about 35 minutes, and at its zenith, the Moon covered 67 percent of the Sun.
The spacecraft then sent a series of images of the event showing “Mountain mountains backlit by solar fire,” SpaceWeather.com experts said. The protrusions and trapezoids identified as part of the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges can be seen on the Moon’s surface.
Patricio Leon of Santiago, Chile, compared close-up images of the Moon moving across the Sun to the topography map of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. During the eclipse, he was able to detect the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges near the Moon’s south pole.
As SpaceWeather.com experts say, “At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon covered 67 percent of the Sun, and the Moon mountains were backlit by Solar fire. High-resolution images like these can help the SDO science team better understand the telescope.”
Launched in 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory monitors the Sun with a fleet of spacecraft and takes a picture of it every 0.75 seconds.
It also studies the sun’s magnetic field, atmosphere, sunspots, and other aspects that affect activity during the 11-year solar cycle.
The Sun’s magnetic poles rotate at the peak of the solar activity cycle, and a solar wind of charged particles pushes the magnetic field away from the Sun’s surface and from the Solar system. The Sun has been experiencing high activity for several months as it enters a very active period of its 11-year activity cycle that began in 2019 and is expected to peak in 2025.
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