Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 January 7 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Total Solar Eclipse 2020 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Miloslav Druckmuller, Andreas Moller, ([5]Brno University of Technology), Explanation: [6]Along a narrow path crossing southern South America through Chile and Argentina, the final New Moon of 2020 moved in front of the Sun on December 14 in the year's only [7]total solar eclipse. Within about 2 days of perigee, the closest point in its elliptical orbit, the New Moon's surface is faintly [8]lit by earthshine in this dramatic composite view. [9]The image is a processed composite of 55 calibrated exposures ranging from 1/640 to 3 seconds. Covering a large range in brightness during totality, it reveals the dim lunar surface and faint background stars, along with [10]planet-sized prominences at the Sun's edge, an enormous [11]coronal mass ejection, and sweeping coronal structures normally hidden in the Sun's glare. [12]Look closely for an ill-fated sungrazing Kreutz family comet (C/2020 X3 SOHO) approaching from the lower left, at about the 7 o'clock position. In 2021 eclipse chasers will see an annular solar eclipse coming up on June 10. They'll have to wait until December 4 for the only total solar eclipse in 2021 though. [13]That eclipse will be total along a narrow path crossing the southernmost continent of Antarctica. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/Tse_2020_400mm_dmwa-rot.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/Index.htm 5. http://www.vutbr.cz/en/ 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201229.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201218.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170831.html 9. http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/Eclipse/Ecl2020a/Tse2020_400mm_wa/0-info.htm 10. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/what-is-a-solar-prominence 11. https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/CMEs.shtml 12. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/recently-discovered-comet-seen-during-2020-total-solar-eclipse-SOHO/ 13. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2021Dec04T.GIF 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210106.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210107 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210108.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. http://www.mtu.edu/