Total solar eclipse. The Moon has passed directly in front of the Sun. Due to the ratio of the sizes and distances of the Sun and Moon from Earth, the

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Total solar eclipse. The Moon has passed directly in front of the Sun. Due to the ratio of the sizes and distances of the Sun and Moon from Earth, the Moon almost exactly obscures the Sun. All of the Sun that is left visible is the atmosphere (corona) of plasma (hot ions) around its edges. This is a composite image - the detail on the Moon would ordinarily not be visible.

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Size: 4500px × 4500px
Photo credit: © FRANK ZULLO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, composite, corona, cosmological, cosmology, cosmos, eclipse, eclipsing, moon, obscure, obscuring, physical, physics, plasma, satellite, solar, space, star, sun, system, total, totality, universe