ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shared a photo of the lunar eclipse from the International Space Station.
The lunar eclipse this past Sunday has impressed all sky watchers, even the astronauts themselves.
The scientist aboard the International Space Station, Samantha Cristoforetti, posted on her Flickr account a photograph of the Moon in the middle of the phenomenon from orbit.
“A partially eclipsed Moon playing hide-and-seek with the International Space Station’s solar panel,” says the astronaut.
A partially eclipsed Moon playing hide-and-seek with our solar panel. / Eclissi parziale della luna che gioca a nascondino con il nostro pannello solare. 🌘 #lunareclipse2022 #BloodMoon #MissionMinerva pic.twitter.com/P7oYFcfTdA
— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 16, 2022
The total lunar eclipse generally occurs twice a year, when the Sun, Earth and Moon are perfectly aligned and the Moon is in its full phase.
As it plunges into Earth’s shadow, the Moon loses its whiteness. But it is still visible because the sun’s rays, deflected by the Earth, continue to reach it through “atmospheric refraction”.
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The scientist, a member of the Crew-4 mission , has published the first tiktok from space .
“Follow me to boldly go where no tiktoker has gone before,” Cristoforetti said at the end of his video, which is currently nearing a million views.
The crew of Crew-4 will continue hydroponic plant growth experiments, a JAXA-sponsored student project and a test of a diagnostic device for certain medical conditions in space.
Traveling with them were also two new experiments to test in microgravity: an artificial retina and floating, wireless health monitors.