This Is What Europe's Solar Eclipse Looked Like From Space

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Jamie Condliffe

This morning Europe was lucky enough to enjoy a solar eclipse—though only those in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard, Norway, were theoretically able to see a full occlusion. This wonderful view from space, though, we can all appreciate.

In fact, many parts of Europe—including London, where I'm based—were covered in cloud as the eclipse occurred. A gray morning, then, was just made darker and more gloomy than usual. But up in orbit, the European Space Agency's Proba-2 minisatellite used its SWAP imager to capture the event as the Moon passed between the Earth and Sun. The SWAP imager records what it sees in the ultraviolet range, so it was able to capture the corona of the Sun as the eclipse occurred.

It's certainly better than the view I got. [ESA]