NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space

On August 12, a total solar eclipse cast a shadow across Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. During this event, the Moon momentarily obscured the Sun, revealing its ethereal outer atmosphere, the corona, to observers fortunate enough to have clear skies within the path of totality. NASA scientists and photographers were strategically positioned along the eclipse's trajectory to study the corona, document the phenomenon, and assess its impact on our planet.

One NASA photographer in Spain skillfully captured a sequence of images, documenting the total solar eclipse along with the partial phases before and after, concluding as the Sun dipped below the horizon.

In northern Maine, where a partial eclipse was visible, another NASA photographer managed to capture the International Space Station, with its seven-person crew, silhouetted against the partially eclipsed Sun.

Meanwhile, from an altitude of approximately 250 miles, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station also captured several photographs of the partial eclipse from their unique orbital perspective.

Furthermore, NASA pilots flew the agency's WB-57F research jet at an altitude of 50,000 feet, traversing the eclipse's shadow to extend the duration of their observation. This jet was equipped with a sophisticated suite of cameras that recorded high-resolution images of the corona and prominences—plumes of electrically charged gas emanating from the Sun—across several different wavelengths of light.

In both Iceland and Spain, student teams participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project deployed scientific balloons carrying instruments designed to capture images of the eclipse's shadow and investigate its effects on our atmosphere. Despite cloud cover obscuring ground-level views in Iceland, the balloon-borne instruments successfully gathered data on how the temporary reduction in light and heat impacted the lower atmosphere.

Prior to the eclipse, scientists at Predictive Science Inc., supported by NASA grants and supercomputing resources, utilized observations of the Sun from NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes to forecast the appearance of the corona during the eclipse. Their prediction is compared below with a composite image of the corona, which integrates multiple images captured by the NASA-supported DEB Initiative project near León, Spain.

In the coming months, scientists will meticulously analyze the observations and images acquired during the August 12 solar eclipse. Their findings regarding the Sun and its influence on Earth will be presented, contributing to the preparedness of science teams for future solar eclipses, such as the significantly longer total solar eclipse anticipated over southern Spain and northern Africa on August 2, 2027.