Image: Eclipse season begins for NASA's SDO
Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - 08:20
in Astronomy & Space
The 2016 spring eclipse season of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory began Feb. 19, 2016. These seasons – a time when Earth blocks SDO's view of the sun for a period of time each day – last around three weeks and happen twice a year near the equinoxes. The eclipses are fairly short near the beginning and end of the season but ramp up to 72 minutes in the middle. Most spacecraft observing the sun from an orbit around Earth have to contend with such eclipses, but SDO's orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, as they block observations of the sun. The spring season will end on March 12, 2016.