July 14, 2010
The atoms in your body have known many forms: star core, drifting dust, ocean mineral, living cell.
Easter Island Eclipse
Birthday · July 14, 2010
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APOD published July 14, 2010. Credit: Stéphane Guisard. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Makemake, a god in Easter Island mythology, may have smiled for a moment as clouds parted long enough to reveal this glimpse of July 11's total solar eclipse to skygazers. In the foreground of the dramatic scene, the island's famous large, monolithic statues (Moai) share a beachside view of the shimmering solar corona and the darkened daytime sky. Other opportunities to see the total phase of this eclipse of the Sun were also hard to come by. Defined by the dark part of the Moon's shadow, the path of totality tracked eastward across the southern Pacific Ocean, only making significant landfall at Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua), ending shortly after reaching southern Chile and Argentina. But a partial eclipse phase could be enjoyed over a broader region, including many southern Pacific islands and wide swath of South America.
Image credit: Stéphane Guisard