GOES-16: visible and true-color images of a solar eclipse shadow

By Scott Bachmeier • 26 February 2017

GOES-16 ABI Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-16 — the first of the GOES-R series — ABI visible (0.64 µm) images captured the Lunar Umbra (or solar eclipse shadow) of the “ring of fire” annular eclipse that occurred in the Southern Hemisphere on 26 February 2017. The dark eclipse shadow could be seen moving from west to east, beginning over the southern Pacific Ocean, passing over far southern Chile and Argentina, and finally moving over the southern Atlantic Ocean. GOES-16 will routinely scan the Full Disk every 15 minutes (the current GOES Full Disk scan interval is once every 3 hours), but in a special mode can scan the Full Disk every 5 minutes.

The path of the eclipse shadow (courtesy of EarthSky.org) is shown below.