The 2017 solar eclipse has come and gone! Now, it’s time to stare in awe at all the amazing images captured by NASA, the European Space Agency, their satellites, and the luckiest folks off Earth: the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Yes, while you were pinching and zooming on your phone trying to nail the perfect Instagram moment, space agencies around the world were gathering the kinds of eclipse images that we could never dream of capturing ourselves.
To wit, there are already plenty of great images of shadow that the Moon cast across the country. Let’s start with a few GIFs and videos of that, made from images captured by GOES-16, a satellite that launched into orbit last November:
The astronauts aboard the ISS were well-prepared to shoot the eclipse. American astronaut Jack Fisher tweeted a photo this morning of the dozen or so cameras that he and his space-bound co-workers were planning to use, while Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli shared a close-up of the giant solar filter covering his telephoto lens.
The ISS crew saw the Moon’s shadow from a more dramatic angle than the straight-on satellite shots.
While the astronauts were shooting the eclipse from a few hundred miles above, a very well-placed NASA photographer back on Earth captured the ISS as it crossed in front of the eclipse. It might look like it’s moving slowly in the video, but the ISS actually travels at about 17,000 miles per hour.
Another satellite operated by the European Space Agency, Proba-2, caught one of the most otherworldly images of the bunch. The satellite used a telescope that studies the extreme ultraviolet light coming from the Sun to capture this view of the eclipse:
More images of the 2017 solar eclipse are still pouring in, so we’ll add any other space-related ones here if we spot them. And as always, feel free to drop your favorites in the comments below!
Comments
Not gonna lie. Here in Florida it didn’t even get remotely dark.
By Jerod on 08.21.17 5:12pm
Raleigh, NC was 92% coverage. It was noticeably cooler and it seemed like someone hit a dimmer switch for a few minutes. I was surprised how bright it remained with only 8% sun exposure.
By anhooker on 08.21.17 5:30pm
Yeah, similar here in north Alabama. It’s incredible how little of the sun is necessary to keep it bright outside.
By vesper4 on 08.21.17 5:36pm
Here on the west coast, California, once you see the sunset on the pacific horizon, it’s still pretty bright outside.
By Oceanic815 on 08.21.17 6:40pm
Went running during the eclipse here in TX, it was definitely cooler than normal. Normally 100+ degrees at that time, it was around low 90s.
By sc0rch3d on 08.21.17 5:39pm
Wasn’t there a similar shadow shot with another large object. I think it was "The Deathstar"….
By kal326 on 08.21.17 5:21pm
"That’s no moon…"
By dmutz on 08.23.17 11:11am
"The solar eclipse is just a lie created by the government by putting chemicals in the drinking the water which makes us hallucinate that the eclipse is happening. If you order my special Eclipto Manly Men’s Man Drink for a low price of $129.99 it will reverse the effect of the hallucinogenic chemicals that the government has put in you and you will not see any eclipse ever. AAARRRGGGG!!!!!" — Alex Jones (probably)
By PiningForTheFjords on 08.21.17 5:39pm
The first step towards making eclipses great again.
By MachinesEmbrace on 08.21.17 9:28pm