NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has captured some stunning new images. On Jan. 30, 2014, beginning at 8:31 a.m. EST, the moon moved between the SDO and the sun. This gave the observatory a view of the partial solar eclipse from space. Now, NASA's SDO has released the new images and video of the encounter to the public.
A lunar transit like the one spotted by the SDO happens about two to three times each year. This particular one lasted about two and a half hours; that's the longest ever recorded. Currently, scientists are unsure when the next one will occur--mostly due to planned adjustments in SDO's orbit.
In the new images, you can see how crisp the horizon is on the moon. That's a reflection of the fact that the moon has no atmosphere around it to distort the light from the sun. You can watch the transit in the video below; in it, you can see the moon crossing in front of the sun. The sun itself appears to move because the SDO's fine guidance systems rely on seeing the whole sun to keep the images centered from exposure to exposure.
Want to see more images? Check them out from NASA here.
The video displayed below is courtesy of NASA and YouTube.
