Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
DAF develops reasonable/religious accommodation request, appeal portal
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
3 min read
NASA Develops Process to Create Very Accurate Eclipse Maps
New NASA research reveals a process to generate extremely accurate eclipse maps, which plot the predicted path of the Moon’s shadow as it crosses the face of Earth. Traditionally, eclipse calculations assume that all observers are at sea level on Earth and that the Moon is a smooth sphere that is perfectly symmetrical around its center of mass. As such, these calculations do not take into account different elevations on Earth or the Moon’s cratered, uneven surface.
For slightly more accurate maps, people can employ elevation tables and plots of the lunar limb — the edge of the visible surface of the Moon as seen from Earth. However, now eclipse calculations have gained even greater accuracy by incorporating lunar topography data from NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) observations.
Using LRO elevation maps, NASA visualizer Ernie Wright at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, created a continuously varying lunar limb profile as the Moon’s shadow passes over the Earth. The mountains and valleys along the edge of the Moon’s disk affect the timing and duration of totality by several seconds. Wright also used several NASA data sets to provide an elevation map of Earth so that eclipse observer locations were depicted at their true altitude.
The resulting visualizations show something never seen before: the true, time-varying shape of the Moon’s shadow, with the effects of both an accurate lunar limb and the Earth’s terrain.
“Beginning with the 2017 total solar eclipse, we’ve been publishing maps and movies of eclipses that show the true shape of the Moon’s central shadow — the umbra,” said Wright.
A map showing the umbra (the Moon’s central shadow) as it passes over Cleveland at 3:15 p.m. local time during the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse. NASA SVS/Ernie Wright and Michaela Garrison “And people ask, why does it look like a potato instead of a smooth oval? The short answer is that the Moon isn’t a perfectly smooth sphere.”
The mountains and valleys around the edge of the Moon change the shape of the shadow. The valleys are also responsible for Baily’s beads and the diamond ring, the last bits of the Sun visible just before and the first just after totality.
A computer simulation of Baily’s beads during a total solar eclipse. Data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter makes it possible to map the lunar valleys that create the bead effect. NASA SVS/Ernie Wright Wright is lead author of a paper published September 19 in The Astronomical Journal that reveals for the first time exactly how the Moon’s terrain creates the umbra shape. The valleys on the edge of the Moon act like pinholes projecting images of the Sun onto the Earth’s surface.
A visualization of Sun images being projected from lunar valleys that are acting like pinhole projectors. Light rays from the Sun converge on each valley, then spread out again on their way to the Earth. NASA SVS/Ernie Wright The umbra is the small hole in the middle of these projected Sun images, the place where none of the Sun images reach.
Viewed from behind the Moon, the Sun images projected by lunar valleys on the Moon’s edge fall on the Earth’s surface in a flower-like pattern with a hole in the middle, forming the umbra shape. NASA SVS/Ernie Wright The edges of the umbra are made up of small arcs from the edges of the projected Sun images.
This is just one of several surprising results that have emerged from the new eclipse mapping method described in the paper. Unlike the traditional method invented 200 years ago, the new way renders eclipse maps one pixel at a time, the same way 3D animation software creates images. It’s also similar to the way other complex phenomena, like weather, are modeled in the computer by breaking the problem into millions of tiny pieces, something computers are really good at, and something that was inconceivable 200 years ago.
For more about eclipses, refer to:
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses
By Ernie Wright and Susannah Darling
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Nancy Neal-Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 19, 2024 Editor wasteigerwald Contact wasteigerwald william.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Solar Eclipses Uncategorized Explore More
3 min read Eclipse Soundscapes AudioMoth Donations Will Study Nature at Night
Article
3 weeks ago
14 min read The Making of Our Alien Earth: The Undersea Volcanoes of Santorini, Greece
Article
4 weeks ago
4 min read Into The Field With NASA: Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes
To better understand Mars, NASA’s Goddard Instrument Field Team hiked deep into the backcountry of…
Article
4 weeks ago
View the full article
-
By Space Force
During CSO Gen. Chance Saltzman’s keynote address at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, he explained how the service will transform to thrive in a new environment optimized for Great Power Competition.
View the full article
-
By Space Force
DAF senior leaders focused on how the Air Force and Space Force must capitalize and leverage acceptable risk in future planning, adapt to the resourcing and risks present in today’s dynamic environment.
View the full article
-
By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA is exploring potential partnerships for alternate use cases for the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) flight hardware, test facilities, and experienced personnel. Through a Request for Information for OSAM-1 Partnerships released Sept. 5, 2024, NASA seeks interest from U.S. organizations that will benefit commercial, civil, and national objectives, thereby advancing domestic leadership in In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities.
A comprehensive list of OSAM-1 resources and technologies organizations can consider using are outlined in the full Request for Information for OSAM-1 Partnerships available at www.sam.gov. Responses are due Sept. 30, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Facebook logo @NASATechnology @NASA_Technology Keep Exploring Discover More Space Tech Topics
STMD Solicitations and Opportunities
Robotics
Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
Artemis
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 06, 2024 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
Space Technology Mission Directorate Technology View the full article
-
By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA astronaut Steve Swanson harvests a crop of red romaine lettuce plants aboard the International Space Station. Grown from seeds in the Veggie facility, this crop is part of the Veg-01 study to help researchers test and validate the Veggie hardware.NASA NASA Life Sciences Portal (NLSP)
The NASA Life Sciences Portal (NLSP) is the gateway to discovering and accessing all archive data from investigations sponsored by NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP). The HRP conducts research and develops technologies that allow humans to travel safely and productively in space. The Program uses evidence from data collected from astronauts, animals, and plants over many decades, and stored in several repositories accessible via the NLSP, including the Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) and Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health and Standard Measures repositories.
Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA)
NASA’s Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) is an archive that provides information and data from 1961 (Mercury Project) through current flight and flight analog studies (International Space Station) involving human, plant and animal subjects.
Much of the information and data are publicly available on this site. Some data are potentially attributable to individual human subjects, and thus restricted by the Privacy Act, but can be requested for research.
Human Health and Performance Products Share
Details
Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 EditorRobert E. LewisLocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Human Health and Performance Explore More
1 min read Participate in the Mission – Be a Human Test Subject!
Article 1 year ago 1 min read Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH)
Article 1 year ago 1 min read Human Health and Performance Data Sharing
Article 1 year ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Humans In Space
Missions
International Space Station
Solar System
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.