Solar Eclipse over Antarctica

Credit: Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC, Posted on: Tuesday, 25 November 2003, 06:00 CST Download full size image

The moon cast a long shadow over Antarctica on November 23, 2003, in the continent’s first recorded total solar eclipse. The sun typically hangs low on the horizon during the southernmost continent’s almost-summer months, so when the Moon moved between the Sun and the Earth, its shadow fell in a roughly 500-kilometer long oval like the long shadows of a early summer dawn. At the time this image was taken, the sun was at approximately 15 degrees above the horizon. The shadow’s long circular shape is the same pattern a flashlight casts an the floor when held at a similar angle. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite captured this image of the eclipse between 23:15 and 23:20 UTC. The eclipse started at 22:08 UTC, and the shadow passed from the surface of the earth a little over an hour later at 23:20 UTC. The sun’s light was completely blocked at 22:49 for one minute and 55 seconds.

More Images

Mars
Morning Frost on Martian Surface.A thin layer of water frost is visible on the ground around NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in this im...

---

Universe
Great Southern Land.This sweeping mosaic of Saturn's moon Enceladus provides broad regional context for the ultra-sha...

---