by APOD Robot » Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:05 am
Eclipse Shadow Cone Over Patagonia
Explanation: Sometimes, during a
total eclipse of the Sun, a
strange shadow of darkness can be seen stretching off into the distance. Called shadow cones, they are visible because the
Earth's atmosphere is not completely transparent, scattering sunlight and hence
appearing blue during the day. Shadow cones are
particularly dramatic for
eclipses near the horizon, as geometry creates a
long corridor of sun-blocked air.
Visible above is a shadow cone
caught during a sunset
total solar eclipse
visible last month from
Patagonia,
Argentina. The
eclipsed Sun itself still appears bright around the edges of the Moon because of light from the
surrounding corona. A few minutes later, the Moon began to move away from the Sun as both set behind distant
Andes mountains.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100804.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100804.jpg[/img] [size=150]Eclipse Shadow Cone Over Patagonia[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Sometimes, during a [url=http://www.earthview.com/tutorial/causes.htm]total eclipse[/url] of the Sun, a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990830.html]strange shadow of darkness[/url] can be seen stretching off into the distance. Called shadow cones, they are visible because the [url=http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html]Earth's atmosphere[/url] is not completely transparent, scattering sunlight and hence [url=http://www.obscure.org/physics-faq/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html]appearing blue[/url] during the day. Shadow cones are [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPpiulzizAU]particularly dramatic[/url] for [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080504.html]eclipses near the horizon[/url], as geometry creates a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031127.html]long corridor[/url] of sun-blocked air. [url=http://twitpic.com/24i4ov]Visible above[/url] is a shadow cone [url=http://tse2009.ts.funpic.de/pataintro.html]caught[/url] during a sunset [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100730.html]total solar[/url] eclipse [url=http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/stories/tse2010/]visible last month[/url] from [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia]Patagonia[/url], [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina]Argentina[/url]. The [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100715.html]eclipsed Sun[/url] itself still appears bright around the edges of the Moon because of light from the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100721.html]surrounding corona[/url]. A few minutes later, the Moon began to move away from the Sun as both set behind distant [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes]Andes[/url] mountains.
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