'Double Eclipse': NASA's Spacecraft SDO Captures Rare Event On Video

NASA's spacecraft, 'The Solar Dynamics Observatory' or more commonly called the SDO, caught a rare double eclipse up close as both the Earth and the moon crossed in front of the sun. It's a rarely recorded event, and one that we get to see up close is credited to a video that NASA has made public.

According to the agency, the Earth blocks the observatory's view of the sun for a little while everyday, which is said to be due to SDO's geosynchronous orbit. This past September 1, this process happened as usual, but coincided with the moon's own movement in front of the sun. Since the Earth's passage started a short while earlier, the spacecraft was able to see the tail end of the moon's movement.

What is the Double Eclipse?

According to the Mirror, the event known as an annular solar eclipse, happens only when the earth, moon, and sun are in near-perfect alignment. An annular eclipse happens when the moon is at a point in its orbit farther from the Earth. This makes the moon appear too distant or smaller in size, so that it does not cover the sun entirely, and instead leaves a flaming circle of light in the sky, like a ring of fire.

In the video, the Earth is fuzzy around the edges due to the way our planet's atmosphere absorbs sunlight. The moon doesn't share that as there's no atmosphere and so it is easy to spot via its sharp, clear edges. The unusual phenomenon happens when both the earth and the moon cross into the path of the sun.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught the moment on film, as both shadows passed over the sun in the early morning of September 1, briefly blocking the satellite's view. Outside of the 62mile band where the full eclipse could be viewed from, only a partial eclipse was visible - or none at all.

According to NASA astronomers, the geometry of the Earth, the moon and the Sun resulted to a simultaneous eclipse visible from southern Africa. The eclipse, which is called an annular eclipse or a "ring of fire" eclipse, had been visible is the African countries of Tanzania, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Madagascar, reports Nature World News.