                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 October 8
   A partially eclipse Sun is shown. In front of the Sun are sunspots, the
     Moon, clouds, and an airplane. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                       Plane, Clouds, Moon, Spots, Sun
             Image Credit & Copyright: Doyle and Shannon Slifer

   Explanation: What's that in front of the Sun? The closest object is an
   airplane, visible just below the Sun's center and caught purely by
   chance. Next out are numerous clouds in Earth's atmosphere, creating a
   series of darkened horizontal streaks. Farther out is Earth's Moon,
   seen as the large dark circular bite on the upper right. Just above the
   airplane and just below the Sun's surface are sunspots. The main
   sunspot group captured here, AR 2192, was in 2014 one of the largest
   ever recorded and had been crackling and bursting with flares since it
   came around the edge of the Sun a week before. This show of solar
   silhouettes was unfortunately short-lived. Within a few seconds the
   plane flew away. Within a few minutes the clouds drifted off. Within a
   few hours the partial solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon was over.
   Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even unexpected alignments are
   surprisingly frequent. Perhaps one will be imaged this Saturday when a
   new partial solar eclipse will be visible from much of North and South
   America.

   APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at
                                    6 pm
                 Tomorrow's picture: strange sunrise eclipse
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

