May 9, 2013
Categories: Russia, Satellites

According to RIA Novosti, in response to a request posted by bloggers in social networks, Russian space officials have agreed to adjust the work of cameras on a weather satellite to take detailed pictures of the lunar shadow as it moves around the Earth during the May 10 solar eclipse.

Russia’s Electro-L geostationary satellite will capture two images of the Eastern hemisphere in a 30-minute interval early on Friday. The regular imaging frequency of the satellite’s cameras is one image every 30 minutes.

“We will be able to provide a detailed animated picture of the lunar shadow’s movement,” said Sergei Uspensky, from the “Planeta” State Research Center of Space Meteorology.

The scientist said the authors of the request had been notified about the decision, and the imagery would be made public on May 11.

This week’s solar eclipse will be “ring-shaped” as the moon will only partially cover the sun. The event is also known as an annular eclipse.

During annular solar eclipses, the moon casts a shadow on the face of the Earth when it passes between the planet and the sun.

This time, the Russian satellite will capture the movement of the lunar shadow in the very beginning of its path around the Earth as it passes through parts of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland in Australia.

The second solar eclipse this year will occur on November 3. It will be a rare hybrid eclipse when an annular eclipse transitions into a total eclipse. The event will be visible in the northern Atlantic Ocean and equatorial Africa.

The Elecrto-L satellite is able to image the Eastern hemisphere in visible and infrared frequencies, additionally providing data on climate change, as well as sea and ocean monitoring.

It was launched in January 2011 as part of Russia’s effort to restore its weather satellite network.

More from this category:
January 11, 2019

On January 11th 2019 in Moscow at the Red Square held a ceremony of laying flowers at the burial place of the founder of Russian…

full story
The most massive launch structure was assembled at Vostochny Cosmodrome
July 15, 2022

The installation of all seventeen levels of the cable refueling tower for the launch vehicles of Angara family at Vostochny launch site in the Amur…

full story
June 17, 2022

Science hardware Icarus, installed on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station as part of the Uragan space experiment developed by RSC Energia (forms…

full story
June 10, 2015

Unexpected Soyuz TMA-15M thrusters igniting still has not affected the date of Soyuz landing. The crew comprising Anton Shkaplerov (Roscosmos), Samantha Christoforetti (ESA) and Terry…

full story
May 8, 2014

Following the results of examination trainings State Commission approved the main crew of new ISS mission, – State Commission representative reoirted on Thursday. The main…

full story
December 4, 2018

The crew members of the “Soyuz MS-11” spacecraft on December 3, 2018 at 22:38 Moscow time, went on board the International Space Station (ISS). Members…

full story
May 27, 2019

On May 27 specialists of the Vostochny Space Center (TsENKI company branch) together with the Progress Space Center (part of Roscosmos State Corporation) started the…

full story
February 20, 2015

On February 19, 2015 Express-AM7 telecommunication space device and complex of service equipment were delivered to Yubileyny airfield complex where all necessary customs procedures were…

full story