A Solar “Radio Eclipse“ Ring of Fire

During the solar eclipse on October 14, researchers at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory used the Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA) to measure radio wavelengths between 20 and 88 megahertz (MHz) and create a video of the “radio eclipse.“ In the video, the dotted lines show the moon’s location and the solid lines show the visible sun’s limb. The radio waves extending beyond the sun’s edge are emitted from its corona, creating a “ring of fire“ effect observable even outside the path of the full annular eclipse. The distortions in the radio waves are caused by the sun’s fluctuating ionosphere. Video credit: OVRO-LWA team and Sijie Yu, New Jersey Institute of Technology