Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: Has a solar eclipse ever been seen from the Moon?Yes, first in 1967 -- but it may happen again next week. The roboticSurveyor 3 mission took thousands of wide angletelevision images of the Earth in 1967, a few of which captured the Earth moving in front of the Sun. Several of these images have been retrieved from theNASA archives and compiled into the above time-lapse video. Although the images are grainy, theEarth's atmosphere clearlyrefracted sunlight around it and showed abeading effect when some paths were blocked by clouds.Two years later, in 1969, theApollo 12 crew sawfirsthand a different eclipse of the Sun by the Earth on the way back from the Moon. In 2009, Japan's roboticKaguya spacecraft took higher resolutionimages of asimilar eclipse while orbiting the Moon. Next week, however, China'sChang'e 3 mission, including itsYuturover, mightwitness a new total eclipse of the Sun by the Earth from surface of the Moon. Simultaneously, from lunar orbit, NASA'sLADEE missionmight also capture the unusualApril 15 event.Another angle ofthis same event will surely be visible topeople on Earth -- atotal lunar eclipse.
Authors & editors:Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.
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&Michigan Tech. U.