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.

                               2021 January 7

                          Total Solar Eclipse 2020
    Image Credit & Copyright: Miloslav Druckmuller, Andreas Moller, (Brno
                         University of Technology),

   Explanation: Along a narrow path crossing southern South America
   through Chile and Argentina, the final New Moon of 2020 moved in front
   of the Sun on December 14 in the year's only total solar eclipse.
   Within about 2 days of perigee, the closest point in its elliptical
   orbit, the New Moon's surface is faintly lit by earthshine in this
   dramatic composite view. The image is a processed composite of 55
   calibrated exposures ranging from 1/640 to 3 seconds. Covering a large
   range in brightness during totality, it reveals the dim lunar surface
   and faint background stars, along with planet-sized prominences at the
   Sun's edge, an enormous coronal mass ejection, and sweeping coronal
   structures normally hidden in the Sun's glare. Look closely for an
   ill-fated sungrazing Kreutz family comet (C/2020 X3 SOHO) approaching
   from the lower left, at about the 7 o'clock position. In 2021 eclipse
   chasers will see an annular solar eclipse coming up on June 10. They'll
   have to wait until December 4 for the only total solar eclipse in 2021
   though. That eclipse will be total along a narrow path crossing the
   southernmost continent of Antarctica.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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