Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 June 22

            Moon Mountains Magnified during Ring of Fire Eclipse
            Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Letian (Eyes at Night)

   Explanation: What are those dark streaks in this composite image of
   yesterday's solar eclipse? They are reversed shadows of mountains at
   the edge of the Moon. The center image, captured from Xiamen, China,
   has the Moon's center directly in front of the Sun's center. The Moon,
   though, was too far from the Earth to completely block the entire Sun.
   Light that streamed around all of the edges of the Moon is called a
   ring of fire. Images at each end of the sequence show sunlight that
   streamed through lunar valleys. As the Moon moved further in front of
   the Sun, left to right, only the higher peaks on the Moon's perimeter
   could block sunlight. Therefore, the dark streaks are projected,
   distorted, reversed, and magnified shadows of mountains at the Moon's
   edge. Bright areas are called Bailey's Beads. Only a narrow swath
   across Earth's Eastern Hemisphere was able to see yesterday's full
   annular solar eclipse. Next June, though, a narrow swath across Earth's
   Northern Hemisphere will be able to see the next annular solar eclipse.
   A total solar eclipse will be visible at the bottom of the world near
   the end of this year.

      Gallery: Notable images of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 2020 June
                              submitted to APOD
                    Tomorrow's picture: x-raying the sky
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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