During the previous week’s total solar eclipse on 21st August, NASA’s LRO or Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured and beamed back an image of the Moon’s shadow, sweeping over a large province of the United States, centered to the north of Nashville, Tennessee. The picture was taken when the shadow of the moon was running over the earth at an approximate speed of 1,500 mph or 670 meters per second.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is currently orbiting Moon for paving paths to the future interplanetary manned mission, has beamed back some of the most stunning views of the last week’s Great American Solar Eclipse, which cast its shadow on entire America on 21st August. As revealed by NASA in its latest statement, the LRO flew by the lunar South Pole, heading towards north at 3,579 mph or 5,760 km/h on last Monday 21st August, and during this period, the onboard cameras of the robotic orbiter managed to frame some of the most spectacular views of the total solar eclipse.
At the time, when the LRO was passing the south pole of moon, the light gloominess of the moon was racing over the major parts of the United States at the speed of 1,500 mph (2,400 km/h), and during this time, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) flashed on the Earth for snagging some impressive images of the long-awaited Great American Solar Eclipse last week. As revealed by a team member of LRO, the obiter conducted a dawdling 180-degree rotation to look back at Earth and click an extreme-nearer picture of the eclipse with the maximum length of totality. The Narrow-Angle Camera of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) started looking into Earth sharp at 2:25 p.m. and keep monitoring for 30 seconds (18:25:30 GMT), and in between this period, it managed to click an eye-catching image 18 seconds later.
Two Narrow-Angle Camera, as a part of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system, captured high-definition black and white picture of the solar eclipse, while the third camera, called the Wide Angle Camera, clicked moderate-resolution imagery with the help of filters for providing information about the elements and shades of the lunar surface. It took nearly 18 seconds to obtain the entire 52,224 lines for the picture.
According to principal investigator of LROC, Mark Robinson, of Arizona State University, “While last week’s Monday was one of the extremely thrilled days for all of us on earth as we were experiencing the shadow of the moon racing over Earth; on the moon, Monday was just another characteristic day like other days of a week. For the moon, as well as for the LRO spacecraft, the real enthusiasm takes place during a lunar eclipse, when the outline of the Earth sweeps up across the Moon.”
