William Atkins
Thursday, 26 February 2009 04:17
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
The Kaguya (SELENE) lunar orbiter recorded the February 9, 2009 solar eclipse while traveling around the Moon. This is the first time that a video of a solar eclipse has been taken by a spacecraft orbiting a body other than Earth.
On February 9, 2009, the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon lined up in nearly a straight line. As the Japanese-built
Kaguya spacecraft orbited the Moon it saw the Earth move in front of the Sun, which produced the solar eclipse.
The February 25, 2009 NASA article “
Otherworldly Solar Eclipse” calls it a
“diamond-ring” eclipse.
The spacecraft recorded the event with one of its two onboard high-definition television (HDTV) cameras. The cameras were placed onboard the spacecraft as a way to record the mission to the Japanese citizenry.
Japanese public television states that these pictures and videos, which are transmitted to the television-watching Japanese people in near real-time (as the spacecraft is taking the photos and videos--there is about a 1.3 second delay with the transmission from the Moon to the Earth), are very popular with the Japanese people.
The video begins in darkness because
Kaguya was blocked by its position below the lunar horizon. Soon, the spacecraft moves above the horizon, and a thin ring of light appears on the video. The ring is the Earth’s atmosphere with the sunlight from the Sun traveling through it.
The NASA article then states
“Just as the arc is about to join ends to complete the circle—bloom! A sliver of the Sun's disk emerges, bringing the eclipse to a sudden, luminous end.”
Please go to page two to find the website to view the video of the solar eclipse by the Kaguya spacecraft.
