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APOD
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.
Second Millennium, Last Eclipse
Explanation: Christmas Day 2000 featured the final eclipse of the Second Millennium -- a partial solar eclipse visible from much of North America . Astrophotographer Phil Rau recorded the entire event on a single image as the Sun and Moon arced through winter skies above Cary, North Carolina, USA. Using a well positioned, tripod mounted camera and a solar filter, Rau made a short exposure every 10 minutes from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm EST, covering the local duration of the eclipse. The resulting image beautifully illustrates the steady progress of the dark new Moon as it appears to take a bite out of the golden solar disk. From his location, at eclipse maximum (near picture center) just less than 50 percent of the Sun's diameter was covered by the Moon .
| Date | January 5, 2001 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: Philipp Rau |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |