During a total solar eclipse, the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up in that order, with the Moon in between the Sun and Earth. The above image was gotten during the eclipse by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR). The satellite has a continuous worldwide view of Earth from its position at Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally steady point in between the Sun and Earth about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Total solar eclipses in the polar areas are rare since they comprise less of Earths land location and because the Sun only lights each pole for part of the year.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
December 7, 2021
December 4, 2021
The only overall solar eclipse of 2021 showed up from Antarctica, where the Moon blotted out the Sun for nearly 2 minutes.
On December 4, 2021, a handful of people in Antarctica were treated to clear views of an overall solar eclipse, the only one to occur in 2021. A partial eclipse was visible in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. The eclipse reached totality at 07:44 Universal Time (UTC) and lasted simply under 2 minutes, darkening the Antarctic summertime skies at a time when the Sun is above the horizon for several months.
Since they consist of less of Earths land area and because the Sun only lights each pole for part of the year, overall solar eclipses in the polar areas are unusual. The last total solar eclipse in Antarctica took place in November 2003. The next will take place in December 2039.
A two-hour video of the total solar eclipse– as seen from Union Glacier, Antarctica– was streamed on NASA TELEVISION. It was shot by members of the J.M. Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition, who also collected information on electrical activity in the ionosphere throughout the eclipse.
NASA image thanks to the DSCOVR EPIC team. NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
During a total solar eclipse, the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up in that order, with the Moon between the Sun and Earth. The Moon casts a shadow on part of Earths surface. For those individuals situated in the center of the Moons shadow, the Sun is either totally or partially blocked from view and the sky ends up being really dark. Viewers with clear skies and the right devices or eyeglasses can typically observe the Suns outer environment, or corona. Generally, it is obscured by the brightness of the Suns surface area.
The above image was acquired throughout the eclipse by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR). The satellite has a constant global view of Earth from its position at Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally stable point between the Sun and Earth about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. In this view, obtained at 07:58 UTC, the Moons shadow can be seen falling on Antarctica.
The natural-color images below were acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite on December 15, 2019, and December 4, 2021, respectively. Both images reveal the Pensacola Mountains, south of the Ronne Ice Shelf. The December 2021 image was obtained at 07:37 UTC, a couple of minutes before the eclipse reached totality. Note the small distinction in the quantity of darkness from south to north, as the south-facing slopes got some faint sunlight from the horizon.