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Australian Total Solar Eclipse on April 20, 2023

The headshot image of Abbey Interrante

Abbey Interrante

Apr 21, 2023
Image Article
Against a black background, a black circle (the Moon) is surrounded by a streams of white light (the Sun's corona). In the bottom left corner, a small peak is visible coming off of the circle – a solar prominence.
This composite image of a total solar eclipse image was captured from Exmouth, Australia, on April 20, 2023.

This composite image of a total solar eclipse was captured from Exmouth, Australia, on April 20, 2023.

A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun, blocking the bright solar disk and revealing the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, which appears as white streamers extending away from the Sun. The pinkish, peak-like feature seen in the lower left part of the corona in this image is a solar prominence — a towering structure of solar material suspended above the Sun by magnetic fields.

The next total solar eclipse will cross Mexico, the United States, and Canada on April 8, 2024. Learn more here.

By Vanessa ThomasNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Credits: Mantarays Ningaloo, Australia/MIT-NASA Eclipse Expedition