Sun Block
Credit & Copyright:
Dominik Pasternak
During a total solar eclipse,
Earth's moon blocks the sun -
almost exactly.
While the sun is about 400 times wider than the moon, it is also
about 400 times farther away and each appears to be
half a degree or so in diameter.
On August 11, this remarkable coincidence in the apparent size of two
vastly different celestial bodies produced tantalizing solar
spectacles for denizens of Europe and Asia.
For example, prominences along the sun's limb peer around the
moon's dark edge in
this dramatic picture of totality recorded
as the lunar shadow swept across Hungary.
Subtle structures in the sun's inner corona are also visible
streaming beyond the silhouetted moon.
This total eclipse of the sun was the last to grace planet Earth's
skies for this
millennium.
Although four partial
eclipses will occur in the year 2000, the
next total eclipse will not be until 2001 June 21.