#AstroMiniBR: What does the solar eclipse look like from an airplane?

Every week, TecMundo this #AstroMiniBR Bring together five interesting and fun astronomical curiosities produced by Twitter profile contributors to spread the knowledge of this oldest science!

1: Solar eclipse at 40,000 feet

Solar eclipse taken from plane!

If watching an eclipse is already rare, imagine watching someone flying at an altitude of 12 km?! This was the scene recorded by the passengers and crew of the Alaska Airlines flight in March 2016!#AstroMiniBRpic.twitter.com/qnsf5jLJqB

— Nicolas Oliveira (@nicooliveira_) 29 September 2022

If watching a total solar eclipse isn’t something you do every day, then watching someone fly by on a plane, then…

This was the sight seen by the passengers and crew of the Alaska Airlines flight on its commercial route from Alaska to Hawaii on March 8, 2016. The total solar eclipse was perfectly visible from the Pacific Ocean region and offered privileges in these locations. With a demonstration that lasts about 2 minutes, in which the Moon is placed directly above the solar disk in perspective and blocks the sun’s rays from reaching the Earth’s surface at these points.

The video above shows the event in time-lapse with time-lapse recording. The most memorable feature of the solar eclipse is the elliptical moon shadow, which approaches and spreads out into the clouds at the beginning of the video, moving at about 12,900 km/h, lasting for a few seconds in complete darkness until it reappears. the sun is shining again.

#2: The first planetary defense mission in history

SUCCESS! Planetary defense test mission #DART GAME Collided with the asteroid Dimorphos! He is now embarking on a campaign of observations with telescopes on the ground and in space to determine how much the collision changed its orbit around the asteroid Didymos. #AstrominiBR pic.twitter.com/ij9DZp7xcC

— The Deep Sky Project (@CeuProfundo) September 26, 2022

Last Monday (16), the first space mission to test a defensive maneuver for planet Earth took place!

The NASA probe, named DART (short for Double Asteroid Redirect Test), accomplished its target to collide with the asteroid Dimorphos after traveling for 10 months in space. The mission thus far represents the culmination of NASA’s planetary defense strategy to deflect small objects that have the potential to collide with Earth, such as asteroids and comets, and pose a risk to the existence of life on our planet.

The suicide journey of the DART spacecraft confirmed that it is possible to successfully steer an unmanned spacecraft to deflect it to its original orbit by deliberate colliding with a rocky body, a technique known as the kinetic effect. The researchers will now observe the asteroid Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that the DART effect changed its orbit. Scientists expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by about 1%, or about 10 minutes in terms of period. If the change in orbit is confirmed, it would turn out that just a small change in velocity is enough to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels.

#3: Lord of the Rings rings

How were Saturn’s rings formed?

The most accepted hypothesis is that in the not so distant past, a comet crashed into one of Saturn’s small ice moons, giving rise to the planet’s rings! #AstroMiniBR pic.twitter.com/zkp2lIltwe

— Camila Esperança (@astronomacamila) September 24, 2022

Saturn, the favorite planet of astronomy lovers all over the world, presents an imposing sight, however small, to anyone who looks at it through the lens of a telescope. Much of this effect is due to the size and richness of its magnificent rings.

Saturn’s rings are believed to be comets, asteroids, and even fragmented lunar fragments that break apart before reaching the planet and are smashed by Saturn’s strong gravity. They are made up of billions of tiny bits of ice and rock covered with silicates and other materials such as icy dust.

The ring’s particles often range from tiny ice grains a few centimeters in size to about the size of a car or even a house. Saturn’s ring system extends 282,000 kilometers from the planet, but its vertical height, or thickness, is only 10 meters.

#4: Who has the most liquid water in the Solar System?

Water planet? Look at the amount of liquid water on Earth compared to Europa (from Jupiter) and Titan (from Saturn). ??#AstroMiniBR pic.twitter.com/xSUgOM3ljJ

— Ana Carolina Posses (@astroposses) September 28, 2022

A few decades ago, the only world known to have an ocean of liquid water was our blue planet Earth. Astronomers in the planetary sciences today know that there are many oceanic worlds, many of which have oceans covered by deep layers of ice rather than lying on the surface like ours.

At the top of the list of the largest oceans in the Solar System is Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is estimated to have a 100-kilometer-deep ocean under an ice sheet of 10 to 30 kilometers. Saturn’s moons Enceladus, Titan, and Dione also have the ability to carry oceans within them. These moons may be just the tip of the iceberg, as several other moons in the outer solar system are also suspected to have frozen oceans.

#5: How does the size of the Sun compare to other stars?

?? BRIGHT STAR

Have you ever thought about how small the Sun is compared to other stars in the universe?
In astronomy, it is a low-mass star; As we can see in the comparison in the picture, there are stars that are tens or even hundreds of times larger than the Sun.#AstroMiniBR pic.twitter.com/q7ErLtLkmx

— Thiago Flaulhabe (@TFlaulhabe) 29 September 2022

Our Sun is a medium-sized star, though the Sun far exceeds the dimensions of all on stellar scales compared to any other body in the Solar System.

There are much larger stars and much smaller stars. At the upper limit, astronomers have already found stars in the Milky Way that are more than 100 times the diameter of our star. This class of stars includes red supergiants. At the lower limit, stars only one-tenth the size of our Sun, known in the class of neutron stars or dwarf stars, have already been found.