{"id":114563,"date":"2025-08-27T20:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/114563\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T20:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:27:10","slug":"moon-photobombs-the-sun-in-wild-noaa-satellite-image-photo-of-the-day-for-aug-27-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/114563\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon photobombs the sun in wild NOAA satellite image photo of the day for Aug. 27, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

To study the sun<\/a>, scientists use a specialized telescope called a coronagraph<\/a>. This instrument mimics a solar eclipse<\/a> by using a occulting disk to block out the sun’s bright light. By doing this, astronomers can study the fainter solar atmosphere, the sun’s corona<\/a>, that’s hard to see when viewing the entire sun.<\/p>\n

However, recently, a coronagraph used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA<\/a>) caught something extra in their images: the moon.<\/a><\/p>\n

What is it?<\/p>\n

NOAA’s Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1) has a particularly unique vantage point for viewing the sun because it sits on the GOES-19 satellite, which scans the Earth. The CCOR-1 was developed and launched in June 2024<\/a> to replace older coronagraphs that, despite still working, have exceeded their life expectancy. NOAA plans to have these types of coronagraphs on future GOES satellites to continue studying the sun.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Where is it?<\/p>\n

This photo was taken from geostationary orbit<\/a>, just above the Earth’s equator<\/a>, as the CCOR-1 is the first coronagraph to be placed there, as opposed to earlier coronagraphs which are farther in space.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

The moon can be seen streaking across the coronagraph image as it crosses paths with the sun. (Image credit: NOAA)Why is it amazing?<\/p>\n

While coronagraphs typically study the sun, recently, the CCOR-1 captured something rather special: the moon passing almost directly in front of the sun, appearing within the field of view of the coronagraph. This happens because CCOR-1 orbits closer to Earth than other coronagraphs, meaning the moon will occasionally be seen in its imagery.<\/p>\n

While the moon appears almost fully illuminated in the image, it isn’t actually a full moon. This brightness comes from Earthshine<\/a>: sunlight that’s reflected from Earth and lighting up the surface of the moon. Because of its high resolution, the CCOR-1 coronagraph could capture this light, making the moon seem full.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more?<\/p>\n

You can read more about studying the sun<\/a> and NOAA’s other research. <\/a><\/p>\n

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To study the sun, scientists use a specialized telescope called a coronagraph. This instrument mimics a solar eclipse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-114563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}