SDO Spring Eclipse Season 2014

2014-02-28 16_39_38

It’s that time of year. SDO spring eclipse season started February 27, 2014.

During the 3 week season, Earth will pass between SDO and the Sun around 07:30 UT each day. Initially the eclipses are a few minutes long. Their length increases each day up to 72 minutes then decrease back to a few minutes. These eclipse seasons happen twice a year near the equinoxes. During the eclipses no data is received but this only amounts to a loss of about 2%. This image shows the end of the eclipse for Feb. 28 in the SDO 304 angstrom wavelength.

feb282014-earth-eclipse.001

The edge of the shadow is fuzzy because Earth has an atmosphere.

credit: NASA/SDO/helioviewer