An unexpected cosmic display has been captured by a sun-watching satellite while observing the sun’s hot outer atmosphere, known as the corona.
The image taken by the working environmental monitoring satellite with a fixed orbit (GOES), by the SUVI solar ultraviolet imaging device, was a solar eclipse that was visible only in space and lasted for several hours.
The GOES satellite monitors solar emissions that act as warning signs of solar flares, which can cause blackouts on Earth, and has picked up a filament that explodes at the northwest tip near the pole once the moon disappears.
However, we may see sporadic periods of geomagnetic storms at the (minor) G1 level due to the influence of high-speed solar winds from a coronal hole, EarthSky reports.
A picture of the moon obscuring part of the sun was shared on Twitter, where one user described the scene by saying: “It looks like the moon is taking a bite out of the sun.”
Observations of solar emission help in the early detection of solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and other phenomena that affect the geospatial environment.
The early warning comes when the SUVI instrument observes a solar eruption at least 15 hours before the coronal mass ejection reaches Earth.
Coronal mass ejections are large ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona.
It can eject billions of tons of coronal material and carry a latent magnetic field (freezing flux) that is stronger than the strength of the background interplanetary magnetic field (IMF).
Although this eclipse was not seen on Earth, those in the United States witnessed a stunning cosmic display of a reddish moon hanging in the dark sky on November 8.
This event is known as a blood moon, and it occurs when the Earth’s shadow covers the Moon and blocks all direct sunlight from reflecting – this causes the Moon to darken and turn a coppery red.