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What it is : The sunlight ’s corona
Where it is : About 93 million Roman mile ( 150 million kilometer ) from Earth
The sun’s corona during the total solar eclipses on April 20, 2023, and April 8, 2024.
When it was shared : Dec. 10 , 2024
Why it ’s so exceptional : This stunning image shows the sunshine ’s Saint Ulmo’s light during two total solar eclipse — on April 20 , 2023 , and April 8 , 2024 . The photo , snapped by a squad of eclipse - chasing astrophotographers known as the Solar Wind Sherpas , is significant because it showsthe sunduringsolar maximum , the height in its close to 11 - class cycle , scientist explain at a Dec. 13 tidings conference at the American Geophysical Union ’s one-year meeting in Washington , D.C.
The sunlight ’s magnetic activity wax and wanes over 11 years . The current solar cps begin in 2019 with solar minimum andreached solar maximum in mid - October . scientist count the number of sunspots — cool solar regions that are cause by a concentration of magnetised - bailiwick line — to determine and predict the advancement of the solar Hz . However , some solar science can be perform only during a totalsolar eclipse .
link up : occultation from space : See the moonlight ’s phantasm slipstream across North America at 1,500 miles per hour in heroic satellite footage
The sun ’s corona is the red-hot and outmost layer of the star ’s atmosphere ; it extends millions of mi into space . However , its intricate structure are overwhelmed by the sun ’s photosphere — its bright surface — and can be seen from Earth onlyduring the totality phase of a full solar eclipse , when the sun is completely blocked by the moon from our linear perspective on Earth .
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The image picture the combine results of images of the electric glow taken during two disjoined totalities and in multiple wavelength . The photos show how , even though the sun was skinny to solar uttermost during both eclipses , its magnetic subject field shaped the sun ’s corona differently during each eclipse . The prototype contain information about the corona ’s temperature and are vital for solar physicist ' attempts to understand the Saint Ulmo’s light andwhy it ’s so much blistering than the photosphere .
The photo that make up the two composite images were taken from judicious heights . In addition to being snap by cameras attached to telescopes , the photos were taken by spectral imaging camera wax on a kite in Western Australia ( for the April 2023 occultation ) and on theNASAWB-57 research aircraft fly out of Houston ( for theApril 2024 occultation ) .
For more sublime space images , discipline out ourSpace Photo of the Week archives .
