To study the sun, scientists use a specialized telescope called a coronagraph. This instrument mimics a solar eclipse by using a occulting disk to block out the sun's bright light. By doing this, astronomers can study the fainter solar atmosphere, the sun's corona, that's hard to see when viewing the entire sun.

However, recently, a coronagraph used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) caught something extra in their images: the moon.

What is it?

NOAA's Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1) has a particularly unique vantage point for viewing the sun because it sits on the GOES-19 satellite, which scans the Earth. The CCOR-1 was developed and launched in June 2024 to replace older coronagraphs that, despite still working, have exceeded their life expectancy. NOAA plans

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