NASA releases a rare photo of a 'Spotless Sun' with a 'black fleck', netizens wonder 'what's that?'. Here's the answer

Indians have frequently believed that the moon is not spotless white, now there appears to be a freckle on the Sun too.

NASA on Tuesday, released a photo of the International Space Station (ISS) caught passing in front of the Sun, calling the photo captured by Rainee Colacurcio as the 'Astronomy photo of the day'.

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Here is the stunning photo:

(Photo: Rainee Colacurcio)

As explained by NASA, the ISS which revolves around the Earth, every 90 minutes passes between the Earth and Sun every day. But getting one's timing and equipment just right for a great image is rare, says NASA commending the unique nature of the photo which showed that the Sun lacked any real sunspots.

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Sunspots and its ramifications:

According to scientists, Sunspots are rarely on the sun currently due to Solar Minimum period. Solar Minimum is a 11-year-long solar activity cycle when solar activity at its lowest point. Similarly, scientists have explained that when solar activities are at their peak, giant eruptions like solar flares and coronal mass eruptions are common.

Astronomers study solar activity in an attempt to forecast solar cycles in order to predict when these eruptions will take place and its magnitude to prevent any kind of damage to any satellites and ISS.

 

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Netizens have been wowed by the 'Spotless Sun':

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