Gaia’s Crown: a deep space mirage seen from DSCOVR/EPIC during lunar transit

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dc.contributor.authorBlank, Karin
dc.contributor.authorHerman, Jay
dc.contributor.authorDangelo, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorMarshak, Alexander
dc.contributor.authorTennenbaum, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2026-02-03T18:15:34Z
dc.date.issued2026-01-12
dc.description.abstractThe Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), onboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft, located at the Earth-Sun Lagrange 1 point, has captured a unique optical effect during lunar occultation named “Gaia’s Crown.” In EPIC images, the phenomenon appears as a small “flange” at the Earth–Moon contact when the Moon is roughly half below Earth’s limb; it is present in the visible and near-infrared channels but absent in the ultraviolet. Using atmospheric data and 3D, voxel-based ray tracing models, this effect was identified as a combination of atmospheric distortion and a complex mirage caused by variations in the Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, it is shown that while satellites closer to the Earth can see a similar phenomenon, Gaia’s Crown presents unique distortion effects that demonstrate how EPIC’s vantage point at 1.5 million kilometers from Earth provides a different perspective on atmospheric optics.
dc.description.sponsorshipThe authors declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. The work utilized the DSCOVR/EPIC data, which utilizes computational resources and services provided by the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
dc.description.urihttps://www.frontiersin.org/journals/remote-sensing/articles/10.3389/frsen.2025.1640320/full
dc.format.extent16 pages
dc.genrejournal articles
dc.identifier.citationBlank, Karin, Jay Herman, Sarah Dangelo, Alexander Marshak, and Andrew Tennenbaum. “Gaia’s Crown: A Deep Space Mirage Seen from DSCOVR/EPIC during Lunar Transit.” Frontiers in Remote Sensing 6 (January 2026). https://doi.org/10.3389/frsen.2025.1640320.
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3389/frsen.2025.1640320
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/41760
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherFrontiers
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC GESTAR II
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
dc.rightsPublic Domain
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
dc.subjectatmospheric optics
dc.subjectHimawari-8
dc.subjectGOES (geostationary operational environmental satellite)
dc.subjectmirage
dc.subjectEPIC
dc.subjectDSCOVR
dc.titleGaia’s Crown: a deep space mirage seen from DSCOVR/EPIC during lunar transit
dc.typeText
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9146-1632

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