Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 January 3
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                                Eclipse Pair
                  Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Josh Dury

   Explanation: [5]Eclipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an
   eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can
   nearly align. Then the full and new [6]phases of the Moon, separated by
   just over 14 days, create a lunar and a solar eclipse. But only rarely
   is the alignment at both new moon and full moon phases during a single
   eclipse season close enough to produce a pair with both total (or a
   total and an annular) lunar and solar eclipses. More often, partial
   eclipses are part of any eclipse season. In fact, the last eclipse
   season of 2024 produced this fortnight-separated eclipse pair: a
   [7]partial lunar eclipse on 18 September and an [8]annular solar
   eclipse on 2 October. The time-lapse composite images were captured
   from Somerset, UK (left) and [9]Rapa Nui planet Earth. The [10]2025
   eclipse seasons will see a total lunar eclipse on 14 March paired with
   a partial solar eclipse on 29 March, and a total lunar eclipse on 8
   September followed by a partial solar eclipse on 21 September.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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      [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search |
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC,
                         [31]NASA Science Activation
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2501/APODEclipsePair2048.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.joshduryphoto-media.com/
   5. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/may-june-2021-special-eclipse-season/
   6. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4874
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240920.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241008.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241011.html
  10. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/2025
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250102.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250103
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250104.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/