VIDEO – Sun Reflection and Moon Shadow

Posted on 19 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am thinking ahead to the total solar eclipse that will be visible across these USA in the next month.

I found a spiffy video at Astromony Pic of the Day.  This is very cool.

Explanation: What are those lights and shadows crossing the Earth? As the featured five-second time-lapse video progresses, a full day on planet Earth is depicted as seen from Japan’s Himawari-8 satellite in geostationary orbit high above the Pacific Ocean. The Sun rises to the right and sets to the left, illuminating the half of Earth that is most directly below. A reflected image of the Sun — a Sun glint — is visible as a bright spot that moves from right to left. More unusual, though, is the dark spot that moves from the lower left to upper right That is the shadow of the Moon, and it can only appear when the Moon goes directly between the Earth and the Sun. Last year, on the day these images were taken, the most deeply shadowed region experienced a total eclipse of the Sun. Next month a similarly dark shadow will sweep right across the USA.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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6 Comments

  1. Kathleen10 says:
    19 July 2017 at 9:29 AM

    Apparently this is going to be a widely viewed cosmic event, as it is reported people are flooding into the 100% eclipse areas. We are flooding in as well, to the 95% dark area. There is one town at “ground zero” where the population is something like 3000 and they expect tens of thousands. Not sure how that’s going to work out, but we aren’t going there.
    When you wrote about this previously, Fr. Z., it may have been you who noted this is so unusual. Usually in the states we get a small corner of the nation that gets a total eclipse, but this one goes across the entire nation. Then, in 2024, we will have it again, again across the nation, but going in the opposite direction! This forms a big “X” over our nation. Hm.

  2. Kathleen10 says:
    19 July 2017 at 9:35 AM

    That video is so great. God holds all in His mighty hands!

  3. Fr Martin Fox says:
    19 July 2017 at 9:56 AM

    Nice cover story. We all know what it really is…

    Aliens!

  4. raven31 says:
    19 July 2017 at 10:10 PM

    My college just happens to be right in the path of the full eclipse and freshman orientation starts two days before the eclipse! :D

  5. Semper Gumby says:
    20 July 2017 at 11:43 AM

    Fr. Fox: That explains why Fr. Z is a certified Space Shuttle Door Gunner.

  6. Semper Gumby says:
    21 July 2017 at 6:32 AM

    The location of longest duration of total eclipse (2min 43sec) is just south of Carbondale, Illinois. According to the Southern Illinoisan newspaper, on August 21 scientists from NASA and several foreign scientists will be there for observation and experiments.

    Meanwhile, just north of Carbondale at Harper’s Bluff, the Moonstock 2017 music festival will run from Aug. 18-21. Groups performing include HellYeah, Papa Roach, and Five Finger Death Punch. The highlight, or perhaps lowlight, occurs on Aug. 21. At the moment of total eclipse Ozzy Osbourne takes the stage, strikes up the band, and leads the crowd in his classic song “Bark at the Moon.”

    “For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?” Psalm 8 DR

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