Uploaded August 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Twice a year, around March and around September, I get to see Earth moving in between my telescopes and the Sun. Everyday for the next three weeks Earth will eclipse the Sun.
The eclipses are fairly short near the beginning and end of the season but ramp up to 72 minutes in the middle.
Any spacecraft observing the Sun from an orbit around Earth has to contend with such eclipses, but my orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, as they block observations of the Sun.
In the video one can see how the boundaries of the shadow of Earth on the Sun are not perfectly sharp since my telescopes can see some light from the brighter parts of the Sun coming through Earth's atmosphere.
The August 29, 2014 eclipse only lasted a little over 4 minutes.
Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)
Twice a year, around March and around September, I get to see Earth moving in between my telescopes and the Sun. Everyday for the next three weeks Earth will eclipse the Sun.
The eclipses are fairly short near the beginning and end of the season but ramp up to 72 minutes in the middle.
Any spacecraft observing the Sun from an orbit around Earth has to contend with such eclipses, but my orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, as they block observations of the Sun.
In the video one can see how the boundaries of the shadow of Earth on the Sun are not perfectly sharp since my telescopes can see some light from the brighter parts of the Sun coming through Earth's atmosphere.
The August 29, 2014 eclipse only lasted a little over 4 minutes.
Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)
