#solar transit

[miamaimania]

Space Shuttle Atlantis during solar transit (May 12, 2009) ⊙ NASA

[quiltofstars]

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s... oh, actually it’s just a plane. // Tom Bash

[humanoidhistory]

The Shuttle Atlantis seen in silhouette during solar transit, May 12, 2009. Image by NASA/Thierry Legault.

(NASA)

[intentandoseringeniero]

“La mayoría de la gente no se da cuenta de que lanzan una nueva estación cada varias semanas porque esto sigue pasando...”

Grande XKCD xDDD

[interstellarwear]

Blink and you’ll miss it. 🛰️☀️

On June 25th, 2021, I caught the International Space Station making its high-speed trek across the face of the Sun. Seeing a human-made laboratory silhouetted against a 4.6 billion-year-old star really puts perspective into focus.

It’s a massive universe out there, but we’re definitely making our mark.

[for-all-mankind]

The International Space Station transited the Sun from the perspective of California Saturday, December 17. Travelling at over 5 miles per second around the Earth, the space station occasionally transits the sun as seen from Earth’s surface. P/C: NASA/Joel Kowsky

[tkwc]

How a 1967 Solar Storm Nearly Led to Nuclear War

A powerful solar storm nearly heated the Cold War up catastrophically five decades ago, a new study suggests.

Some amazing captures of solar jet transits below...

Solar jet transit (20111105). Takahashi FS128 F/8.1, 2" Lunt Solar Wedge, DMK41.

Solar jet transit (20111227). LUNT 152 F/6, BF3400, DMK41.

Solar jet transit (20121028). Astro-Tech 80 F/7, LUNT Ca-K Module with B1200 Blocking Filter, DMK51.

Solar jet transit (20121226). PST CaK, DMK41.

Solar jet transit (20130313). LUNT 152 F/6, BF3400, X1.6 Barlow, DMK51.

Solar jet transit (20140410). TV101 F/5.4, Coronado SM60, BF30, PGR Grasshopper 3

Solar jet transit (20140417). TV101 F/5.4, LUNT Ca-K Module with B1200 Blocking Filter, PGR Grasshopper 3

Solar jet transit (20141231). IKHARUS 80 F/7, Coronado SM60, BF30, PGR Grasshopper 3

Solar jet transit (20150516). LUNT 152 F/6, X2 Barlow, PGR Grasshopper 3

Solar jet transit (20160723). TV101 F/5.4, Coronado SM60, BF30, PGR Grasshopper 3

Source: astrosurf.com

“...a solar transit is a movement of any object passing between the Sun and the Earth. This mainly includes the planets Mercury and Venus. A solar eclipse is also a solar transit of the Moon, but technically only if it does not cover the entire disc of the Sun (an annular eclipse), as "transit" counts only objects that are smaller than what they are passing in front of. Solar transit is only one of several types of astronomical transit.

Solar transit (or a solar outage, sometimes solar fade, sun outage, or sun fade) also occurs to communications satellites, which pass in front of the Sun for several minutes each day for several days straight for a period in the months around the equinoxes, the exact dates depending on where the satellite is in the sky relative to its earth station. Because the Sun also produces a great deal of microwave radiation in addition to sunlight, it overwhelms the microwave radio signals coming from the satellite's transponders. This enormous electromagnetic interference causes interruptions in fixed satellite services that use satellite dishes, including TV networks and radio networks, as well as VSAT and DBS.

Only downlinks from the satellite are affected, uplinks from the Earth are normally not, as the planet "shades" the Earth station when viewed from the satellite. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit are irregularly affected based on their inclination. Reception from satellites in other orbits are frequently but only momentarily affected by this, and by their nature the same signal is usually repeated or relayed on another satellite, if a tracking dish is used at all. Satellite radio and other services like GPS are not affected, as they use no receiving dish, and therefore do not concentrate the interference. (GPS and certain satellite radio systems use non-geosynchronous satellites.)

Solar transit begins with only a brief degradation in signal quality for a few moments. At the same time each day, for the next several days, it gets longer and gets worse, until finally gradually improving after several more days. For digital satellite services, the cliff effect will eliminate reception entirely at a given threshold. Reception is typically lost for only a few minutes on the worst day, but the beam width of the dish can affect this. Signal strength also affects this, as does the bandwidth of the signal. If the power is concentrated into a narrower band, there is a higher signal-to-noise ratio. If the same signal is spread wider, the receiver also gets a wider swath of noise, degrading reception.” - Source: Wikipedia