An epic eclipse from NOAA's DSCOVR Satellite (IMAGE)
Caption
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was built to provide a distinct perspective on our planet. Yesterday, it added another first to its collection of unique snapshots. While residents of islands and nations in the Western Pacific looked up in the early morning hours to observe a total eclipse of the Sun, DSCOVR looked down from space and captured the shadow of the Moon marching across Earth's sunlit face. The animation above was assembled from 13 images acquired on March 9, 2016, by NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four-megapixel charge-coupled device (CCD) and Cassegrain telescope on the DSCOVR satellite. Click on the link below the animation to download the 13 individual images in the series. In this, the only total solar eclipse of 2016, the shadow of the new Moon starts over the Indian Ocean and marches past Indonesia and Australia into the open waters and islands of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia). Note how the shadow moves in the same direction as Earth rotates. The bright spot in the center of each disk is sunglint -- the reflection of sunlight directly back at the EPIC camera. From its position about 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth toward the Sun, DSCOVR maintains a constant view of the sunlit face of the planet as it rotates. EPIC acquires images using different spectral filters from ultraviolet to near infrared to produce a variety of science products. Natural-color images are generated by combining three separate monochrome exposures (red, green, and blue channels) taken in quick succession. Situated in a stable orbit between the Sun and Earth, DSCOVR 's primary mission is to monitor the solar wind for space weather forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Its secondary mission is to provide daily color views of our planet as it rotates through the day. The satellite was built and launched through a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and the US Air Force.
Credit
NASA image courtesy of the DSCOVR EPIC team. NASA Earth Observatory animation by Joshua Stevens. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
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