The last solar eclipse of the decade happened today!
😱⁣
⁣
Skywatchers were treated to a rare celestial event as an annular solar eclipse was visible in parts of Asia.
During an annular eclipse,
the Moon’s apparent size is too small to completely cover the face of the Sun,
creating a “ring of fire”
around the Moon’s edge during the eclipse.
💍🔥⁣
⁣
Jessica Meir of @NASAastronauts shared these photos taken from the International Space Station (@ISS)
saying,
“We saw the shadow of the #Moon on the #Earth below,
just above the horizon (central gray area above horizon).”⁣
⁣
Solar eclipses happen when the Moon lines up just right with the Sun and Earth.
Though the Moon orbits Earth about once a month,
the tilt in its orbit means that it’s relatively rare for the Moon to pass right in line between the Sun and Earth —
and those are the conditions that create an eclipse.
Depending on the alignment,
the Moon can create a partial,
total or annular solar eclipse.
⁣
⁣
Image Credit:
NASA/@astro_jessica ⁣
⁣ #NASA #HomeSweetHome #SolarEclipse2019 #SolarEclipse

Pluto might be billions of miles from the Earth,
but that doesn’t stop it from getting into the Christmas spirit.
🎄⁣
⁣
This image was produced by the New Horizons composition team,
using a pair of Ralph/LEISA instrument scans.
Three infrared wavelength ranges were placed into the three color channels (red,
green and blue,
respectively)
to create this false color Christmas portrait of the dwarf planet.⁣
⁣
Image Credit:
NASA/@johnshopkinsapl/@souhwestresearchinstitute ⁣ #NASA #Pluto #MerryChristmas #DwarfPlanet

"The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."⁣⁣
⁣⁣
On #ChristmasEve in 1968,
Apollo 8 became the first mission to orbit the Moon.
During a live broadcast,
the astronauts showed pictures of the Earth and Moon as seen from their spacecraft and took turns reading from the book of Genesis.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Inage Credit:
NASA⁣⁣
⁣⁣ #NASA #ChristmasEve #Apollo #Earthrise