When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Eerie new satellite images show the moonshine ’s gigantic tincture race across North America during theApril 8 total solar eclipse . Photos captured by astronauts on gameboard theInternational Space Station(ISS ) also highlight the nous - boggle scale of this rarefied cosmic effect .
On Monday ( April 8) , millions of peoplealong or near the path of totalitywatched the moonshine temporarily block out our home whiz as its shadow cross across North America from Mexico to Canada . During this event , entireness — the period where the sun is completely confuse — lasted up to 4 proceedings and 28 bit , depending on the witness ’s location .
The moon’s shadow traveled across North America at more than 1,500 mph during the total solar eclipse.
Despite someadverse weather conditionsand anuncharacteristically inactive sun , observers were able to capture arresting images of the eclipse from the soil . Some citizenry were even lucky enough to catch glimpses of rarefied phenomena including slithers of sunlight known as " Baily ’s drop " and blood plasma eruptions from the sun , have it away as solar gibbousness . But from space , the event was arguably even more impressive .
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ’s ( NOAA ) 16th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite ( GOES-16 ) took grand of exposure of the eclipse from its fix position above North America . When these images were run up together , they showed the moon ’s shadow swing out across the continent , Spaceweather.com reported .
The result footage look like something straight out of a sci - fi film .
The moon’s shadow was also visible from the ISS.
" The Moon ’s shadow raced across North America faster than 1,500 mph [ 2,400 km / h ] , create a mind - altering cone of dark , " Spaceweather.com wrote .
Related : When is the next full solar occultation after 2024 in North America ?
Astronauts on board the ISS also watched the eclipse from their unique viewpoint , and a member of the Expedition 71 crew captured a striking guess of the moon ’s shadow from around 260 miles ( 418 kilometers ) above Earth , NASA reported . At this point , the dark void was die from New York province into Newfoundland , Canada .
NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) also saw the moons shadow race across North America.
The ISS photo was no accident . NASAhad beengradually manoeuvre the space station for monthsso that it would pass through the occultation , while also making sure the orbiting station avoided space junk . In the terminal , the ISS experience a totality of around 90 % , grant to NASA .
However , cosmonaut were ineffective to take photos of the actual occultation because the windows facing the sun , which are turn up in the Roscosmos section of the station , were unobtainable due to " cargo constraints , " NASA representatives wrote .
The mammoth glowering patch was also spotted by one ofSpaceX’sStarlinksatellites during the eclipse .
A Starlink satellite also captured footage of the moon’s shadow as the spacecraft orbited Earth.
— NASA fountain will chase the eclipse at 460 mph
— Why NASA is launching 3 rockets into the solar occultation
— 4 ways you may help NASA study the April 8 solar eclipse
The moon ’s phantasm is often referred to as the umbra , which is Latin for shadow . However , an umbra is just the darkest part at the philia of the moon ’s vestige . Our natural planet ’s shadow also contains two other section : the penumbra , where only part of the sun is covered ; and the antumbra , where a fainter apparition is vomit across a blanket r .
Observers located in the path of totality were temporarily breed by a lawful umbra , but anyone who experienced a darkened sky outside of this route was experiencing a penumbra or antumbra . This is why the moon ’s shadow come along much wider than the path of totality in the Modern images .
If you missed the eclipse , do n’t worry , it is stillpossible to rewatch NASA ’s live stream of the event .
