                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2026 August 17
   A total eclipse Sun is featured in the image center. Around the Sun is
    a filamentary gold-hued corona flowing out in all directions. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                           A Golden Corona Eclipse
          Image Credit & Copyright: Rui Santos (Living Impressions)

   Explanation: 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
                      Tomorrow's picture: fast meteors
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

