Annular Solar Eclipse at High Resolution
On Monday, part of the Sun went missing. The missing piece was no
cause for concern -- the Moon was only momentarily in the way. The
event was not a total eclipse of the Sun for any Earth-bound sky
enthusiast but rather, at best, an annular eclipse, where the Moon
blocked most of the Sun. Because of the relatively large distance
to the Moon during this Earth-Moon-Sun alignment, the Moon did not
have a large enough angular size to block the entire Sun. Those who
witnessed the solar eclipse from a narrow path through Spain and
Africa, however, were lucky enough to see the coveted Ring of Fire,
a dark Moon completely surrounded by the brilliant light of the
distant Sun. Pictured above is a Ring of Fire captured two days ago
in unusually high resolution above Spain. The resulting image shows
details of the granular solar surface as well as many prominences
around the Sun.
Credit &
Copyright: Stefan Seip
