Eclipse Day Transit was not as Exciting as the Total Solar Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, people along a path from Mexico thru the USA and into Canada were treated to a total solar eclipse. SDO waited until much later in the day (actiually the next day in the UT timezone) and saw this glancing lunar transit.

The Moon covered about 5% of the solar disk at 09-Apr-2024, 03:36 UTC (08-Apr-2024, 11:36 ET). It is an interesting problem to understand why the motion of SDO in its geosynchronous orbit above the Mountain timezone against the lunar velocity later in the day allowed the transit many hours after the eclipse on the ground. Perhaps the next post will explore those details.

You should check out the spectacular photos of the total solar eclipse. There was at least one prominence visible to my eyes on the limb.

Spring 2024 Calibration Maneuvers Begin Today

Today SDO will execute the EVE Field of View (at 1315 UTC, 9:15 am ET) and the HMI/AIA Flatfield (at 1630 UTC, 12:30 pm ET) calibration maneuvers. During these maneuvers SDO science data may be missing or blurred.