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Moon photobombs the Sun

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A green Sun with a round shadow across the top right-hand cornerImage source, NASA/SDO
Image caption,

The Moon photobombs the Sun

Nasa has revealed that last week one of its observatories caught the Moon cheekily photobombing the Sun!

The images were snapped on 19 October by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, which continuously watches the Sun to monitor its atmosphere and the effects it has on areas close to the Earth.

As the Moon passes across the image, it creates a very sharp shadow. This is because, unlike the Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere which would affect the Sun's light.

So why is the Sun green?

This picture shows solar material heated to more than 5,000,000 degrees Celsius!

The Sun is a very bright and hot star - its light is so bright, that much of it can't be seen by the human eye.

In the photograph, scientists at the SDO have filtered this invisible light, called ultraviolet light, and coloured it green so that humans can see it.

Big solar flare spotted

In September, the SDO spotted two massive solar flares that fired out from the surface of the Sun.

The flares were so big, they disrupted some radio and GPS communication systems here on Earth. Fortunately, these solar flares cannot pass through the Earth's atmosphere to affect humans on the ground.

A solar flare is a huge amount of energy released from the Sun, and they can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

Media caption,

The Sun fires out two massive solar flares