Posted on 05/29/2012 9:27:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What's that dark spot on planet Earth? It's the shadow of the Moon. The above image of Earth was taken last week by MTSAT during an annular eclipse of the Sun. The dark spot appears quite unusual as clouds are white and the oceans are blue in this color corrected image. Earthlings residing within the dark spot would see part of the Sun blocked by the Moon and so receive less sunlight than normal. The spot moved across the Earth at nearly 2,000 kilometers per hour, giving many viewers less than two hours to see a partially eclipsed Sun. MTSAT circles the Earth in a geostationary orbit and so took the above image from about three Earth-diameters away. Sky enthusiasts might want to keep their eyes pointed upward this coming week as a partial eclipse of the Moon will occur on June 4 and a transit of Venus across the face of the Sun will occur on June 5.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, NASA, EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, U. Dundee]
Quite an amazing picture!
that nuke plant meltdown in fukushima was worse then i thought...
We must Free Willy!
Now that’s a unique picture!
Thanks! :-)
I love pictures of the Earth from space. It has only been since I was 22 years old that people could see such things.
Thousands of years of civilizations have passed when no one could even imagine seeing that picture. We take it for granted after only 43 years.
The APOD boggles my mind almost every day, Mr. Civilizations, and it’s all your fault! [smiles fondly at you]
Throughout history people never knew what the far side of the moon looked like. In 1959 the Soviets managed to photograph the far side for the first time. 50 years from now no one will be alive who can remember when no one knew what was on the far side of the moon.
Indeed. History began on the day we were born, LOL!
based upon the issue of being 22 when these sorts of shots began, (1) you aren’t as old as you like to claim, (2) I’m older, LOL
I was 22 in 1969, and I’m 65 now. I wasn’t counting the Russians’ shots of the far side of the moon, but rather our landing on it.
You’re right, though. The Russians could take earth-from-space pictures from ‘59 on, not that we got to see any of them back then that I recall.
But I’m old, and I forget stuff.
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