Universe Today
It's eclipse season for the Solar Dynamics Observatory! Twice a year near each equinox, the orbital dynamics lines up so that from SDO's vantage point, the Earth passes between SDO and the Sun. Eclipse season lasts for about three weeks and each eclipse can last up to 72 minutes in the middle of an eclipse season. This current eclipse season started on September 11 and lasts until October 4. There's no way to avoid the loss of images, the SDO team says, but the continuous contact with the ground station SDO's orbit allows was judged to outweigh the loss of some images.
The Disappearing Sun
By Nancy Atkinson - September 14, 2011 at 12:48 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy
Nancy Atkinson
Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.
Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.
Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com