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While millions of air observers attended the great South American solar eclipse on July 2, a European satellite observed the celestial event from space.
While eclipse observers in parts of Chile and Argentina had the chance to see the moon completely block the sun for a total solar eclipse, the Proba-2 satellite of the European Space Agency We could see that a partial solar eclipse – in which the moon only covers a part of the sun – from his point of view in space. However, the satellite saw the moon eclipse the sun four times in as long as the inhabitants of the Earth saw only one eclipse.
Proba-2 is a technological demonstration satellite that travels the planet Earth at an altitude of about 700 to 800 km (435 to 500 miles) in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means that it travels the line between the day and night with a view of the sun. The satellite was able to see the eclipse four times as it circled the Earth about 14.5 times a day.
Related: Best pictures of the total solar eclipse 2019
The Proba-2 satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) has witnessed four partial solar eclipses in space, while South American observers witnessed a total solar eclipse on 2 July 2019 .
(Image credit: ESA / Royal Observatory of Belgium)
Back on Earth, the partial phase of the eclipse began when the moon's shadow touched our planet for the first time at 12:55. EDT (16:55 GMT). After crossing the Pacific Ocean and South America, the shadow slipped off our planet at 5:50 pm. EDT (2150 GMT). During those 4 hours and 55 minutes during which the eclipse was visible from Earth, Proba-2 came in and out of the moonlight four times.
Proba-2 was launched in 2009 as part of a mission to study the weather of the sun and the space weather with the help of a suite of instruments. He captured these images from the solar eclipse with the help of an instrument called SWAP (short for "Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing") .
It was not the first time the satellite watched a solar eclipse; he has also recorded videos of the great American solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, as well as many other eclipses that occurred during its orbit.
Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her. @hannekescience. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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