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Artificial Eclipse

All articles tagged with #artificial eclipse

Three solar prominences erupt in rare artificial-eclipse footage from ESA's Proba-3
space1 month ago

Three solar prominences erupt in rare artificial-eclipse footage from ESA's Proba-3

ESA's Proba-3 mission captured a five-hour artificial eclipse, producing a time-lapse of three solar prominences erupting from the Sun's corona. By aligning the coronagraph with an occulter, scientists can study the sun’s faint outer atmosphere in unprecedented detail, combining Proba-3 data with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory imagery. The prominences appear to erupt without the bright flares typical of solar explosions and are cooler than the million-degree corona, offering clues to why the corona is so hot and how these plasma eruptions contribute to solar activity.

"Europe's Proba-3 Mission: Creating an Artificial Eclipse to Study the Sun's Corona"
space2 years ago

"Europe's Proba-3 Mission: Creating an Artificial Eclipse to Study the Sun's Corona"

The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission, set to launch in September, will use two small satellites to create an "artificial eclipse" in order to study the sun's corona. The satellites will fly in tandem in orbit around Earth, with one blocking out the sun's glaring disk for the other, allowing for continuous observation of the faint solar corona. This mission aims to better detect tiny, faint features in the sun's outer atmosphere and reduce data-damaging diffraction, and will launch from India due to Europe's temporary lack of independent access to space.