Very cool picture ... very bad geometry?
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/12mar_stereoeclipse.htm?list39638
I love the picture, and given my current field of work, love the concept of a 3D stereoscopic vision of the sun. :)
But, I think someone either oversimplified, under-researched, or just completely lied about something in the story.
How does something that is travelling 1 million miles behind us, get any angle wherein the moon is between it and the sun? The moon, btw, orbits at a distance of 250,000 miles from us. Doing a bit of geometry, it is clear that at no point can a line from that satellite run through both the moon and the sun.
My guess is that these images were taken while the spacecraft is on its way to its million mile away parking orbit. Somehow.
I love the picture, and given my current field of work, love the concept of a 3D stereoscopic vision of the sun. :)
But, I think someone either oversimplified, under-researched, or just completely lied about something in the story.
How does something that is travelling 1 million miles behind us, get any angle wherein the moon is between it and the sun? The moon, btw, orbits at a distance of 250,000 miles from us. Doing a bit of geometry, it is clear that at no point can a line from that satellite run through both the moon and the sun.
My guess is that these images were taken while the spacecraft is on its way to its million mile away parking orbit. Somehow.