QUIET SUN: Solar activity is very low. There are two sunspots on the solar disk, but both are small and inactive. NOAA forecasters say the chance of strong flares today is no more than 1%. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
LUNAR ECLIPSE MIRAGE: Europe was a terrible place to see Friday's lunar eclipse; the Moon was setting just as the eclipse began. On the other hand, it was a great place to see the lunar eclipse mirage. Oscar Martín Mesonero photographed the phenomenon from Muxía, Spain:
"We could only see the lunar eclipse for a few minutes before sunrise," says Mesonero, "but what an amazing few minutes it was. The Moon was stretched into fantastic shapes just before it sank into the waves of the Atlantic."
This is an inferior mirage. It's caused by layers of relatively warm air just above the sea surface. These layers refract and bend the lunar disk. As the real Moon sinks down toward the horizon, an inverted image of the Moon pops up out of the waves. Mesonero caught them meeting in the middle.
Take a closer look at this image. It shows mirrored craters on either side of the meeting point. The lower image of the Moon is called the "inferior" image--hence "inferior mirage."
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Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery
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