Much of the American continent witnessed a spectacular astronomical phenomenon with the annular solar eclipse that was experienced on October 14, 2023 and the POT He documented it in every aspect possible.
A few days ago we had addressed how the space agency was going to take advantage of this event to run a peculiar experiment that would only be possible in the context of the eclipse.
The mission APEPwhich stands for Atmospheric Disturbances Around the Eclipse Path, made history by launching three rockets at different points on the planet in order to obtain simultaneous measurements taken from multiple locations in the ionosphere during a solar eclipse.
This is a project that would only occur to a group of scientists dedicated to the study of our planet and space, when the rest of the population attentive to this phenomenon basically dedicated themselves to appreciating it visually.
Fortunately, the space agency also took advantage of all the instruments they have and managed to capture some incredible pieces in audiovisual format. Today we share one of these clips with you.
Let’s start with the basics first: an annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is positioned exactly between the Sun and the Earth at a distance where, seen from the Earth, it does not completely obscure the Sun.
When this phenomenon reaches its climatic point, what is popularly known as a ring of fire occurs. A large, bright circle in the sky, which crowns the eclipse and which constitutes the most distinctive visual element of this event.
Many of us did not have the opportunity to experience the eclipse in all its splendor, because only in some parts of the continent’s territory was it visible in all its splendor. Fortunately nothing has released a great video where it shows it completely:
We’re getting our first views of the “ring of fire”!
Here’s a look at the annular solar eclipse from Albuquerque, NM, as the Moon nearly (but not completely) covers up the Sun. pic.twitter.com/SCW8r77FG4
— NASA (@NASA) October 14, 2023
The maximum dimming of the sun could be observed (and experienced) about one-fifth of the US territory, but only in very few Latin American countries.
So in Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas the eclipse was possible to observe in all its splendor, as long as there were clear skies, of course.
So it is obvious that NASA will dedicate itself fully to documenting the phenomenon, and even had the detail of producing a real-time streaming to safely show the eclipse.
What we see above in the video is the most exciting moment of that live broadcast.