Did you know there was a solar eclipse last week? Probably not, since -- due to the geometry of the Moon's orbit around the Earth -- it occurred over Antarctica. However, it was seen by the Japanese Sun-observing satellite Hinode (pronounced, "HEE-no-day"; meaning "sunrise"). As the satellite moved around the Earth, its viewing angle of the Moon changed, so it saw the eclipse not just once but three times, making for a very odd video of the event:
[embed width="610"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHZHkR7wn6E[/embed]
This change in perspective is called parallax, and besides tripling the eclipse fun, it also manifests itself as a severe curve to the Moon's motion in the video. If the satellite were hovering over the Earth, it would've seen just one eclipse as the Moon slowly moved across the Sun's face (if it had been over Antarctica at the time). But the satellite orbits the Earth at a height of ...
