2026-08-17
A Golden Corona Eclipse
Another stunning view from the cosmos: A Golden Corona Eclipse. NASA explains:
Why this matters
Today's highlight centers on solar activity, the night sky. Understanding how these objects form and move is the bridge between a pretty photo and the live, data-driven sky we render on the globe.
See it live on ObjectTracer
This connects to what you can track in real time on our 3D globe — explore Solar System view · Deep Space. Or open the live globe to watch flights, satellites, the ISS and spacecraft move right now.
The science, from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week's total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering the remaining blue tones and deepening the already gold-dominated light. The HDR-processed, multiple-exposure featured image was captured from Benavente, Spain last week. One thing that did not appear golden was a hydrogen-glowing prominence that hovered over the Sun's left edge -- its original bright pink color survived. Gallery: Solar Eclipse of 2026 August 12
Image credit: Rui Santos (Living Impressions) · Source: NASA APOD
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