Latest news with #ASPIICS
Forbes
25-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
NASA Just Snapped A Rare Solar Eclipse From Space — See The Photos
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured the moon eclipsing the sun in an event only observable from its position in space. At the height of the event on Friday, July 25, around 62% of the sun was covered by the moon. The SDO, which is solar-powered, coped with the drop in sunlight by having its batteries fully charged before the eclipse occurred. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured a rare solar eclipse from Earth orbit on July 25, 2025. NASA SDO The SDO sees several eclipses — or lunar transits — each year. This one was a deep partial eclipse, which lasted about 35 minutes. The SDO studies the sun's atmosphere in various wavelengths of light. The spacecraft is in a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, matching Earth's rotation, and positioned 22,238 miles (35,789 kilometers) above a ground station in White Sands, New Mexico. SDO has an almost constant but slightly different view of the sun than we do from Earth's surface, but there are times when its orbit passes behind the Earth, causing an eclipse from its point of view. On July 25, SDO passed passed behind both the moon and the Earth on the same day, accotSDO. The next solar eclipse visible from Earth will be a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, when up to 80% of the sun will be blocked by the moon as seen from New Zealand, Tasmania in Australia, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. Observers will need to wear solar eclipse glasses at all times, and all cameras and telescopes will need solar filters. The next total solar eclipse visible from Earth will occur on Aug. 12, 2026, for parts of Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain. The maximum totality will be 2 minutes and 18 seconds off Iceland. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured a rare solar eclipse from Earth orbit on July 25, 2025. NASA SDO The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission — the world's first precision formation flying mission — last month captured the first images of an artificial total solar eclipse from space. Proba-3 is a pair of satellites that fly in formation with millimeter precision, with one blocking the sun with an occulter disk and casting a shadow on a telescope on the satellite behind it. That allows it to image the sun's corona — the sun's outer, hotter but more tenuous atmosphere — which is only visible during a total solar eclipse. Although SDO can also see the corona, Proba-3 can see much farther into it, revealing what's going on close to the Sun's photosphere. That's important because it's there that the solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are produced. Proba-3 can produce a total solar eclipse lasting six hours once every 19.6-hour orbit. The Sun's inner corona appears greenish in this image taken on 23 May 2025 by the ASPIICS ... More coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA's formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses in orbit. This image, captured in the visible light spectrum, shows the solar corona similarly to how a human eye would see it during an eclipse through a green filter. The hair-like structures were revealed using a specialised image processing algorithm. ESA/Proba-3/ASPIICS/WOW algorithm Exactly 56 years ago this week, the crew of NASA's Apollo 11 mission — the first to put astronauts on the moon — saw a total solar eclipse. On Jul. 19, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins photographed a total solar eclipse on their way to the moon. Aldrin had seen a total solar eclipse from space before, on Nov. 11, 1966, during the Gemini 12 mission with Jim Lovell. The crew of Apollo 12 — Pete Conrad, Alan Bean and Dick Gordon — also saw a total solar eclipse from space on Nov. 24, 1969. AS11-42-6179 (19 July 1969) —- This photograph of the solar corona was taken from the Apollo 11 ... More spacecraft during trans-lunar coast and prior to lunar orbit insertion. NASA When Is The Next Total Solar Eclipse In North America? The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. will occur on Aug. 22, 2044. The path of totality will begin in Greenland, travel through Canada's Northwest Territories (with maximum totality close to Great Bear Lake, at 2 minutes and 4 seconds) and finish with an eclipsed sunset from Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota. Another total solar eclipse will occur across the U.S. a lunar year later, on Aug 10, 2045. Forbes In Photos: First Ever 'Fake' Total Solar Eclipse Created In Space By Jamie Carter Forbes NASA Spacecraft 'Touches Sun' For Final Time In Defining Moment For Humankind By Jamie Carter Forbes NASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To Go By Jamie Carter
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Line Up Satellites to Create "Artificial Total Solar Eclipse"
Two satellites just carefully lined up to form a perfect "artificial total solar eclipse" in orbit. Earlier this year, the two probes, which are part of the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission, positioned themselves in a perfect line 492 feet apart to have one of them perfectly obfuscate the Sun's rays. Impressively, they were able to maintain their position with an accuracy down to the millimeter. The outermost satellite then snapped fascinating pictures of the Sun's corona, the outermost part of our star's atmosphere, something that's generally speaking only possible during a natural solar eclipse. The first "Occulter" satellite's 4.6-foot disc cast a three-inch shadow onto the Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun (ASPIICS) instrument mounted to the second "Coronagraph" satellite, allowing it to get an uninterrupted view of the Sun's corona. The spectacular satellite dance could give researchers new ways to study solar wind, or the continuous flow of particles from the Sun. It could also give them new views of coronal mass ejections, powerful explosions of plasma and magnetic fields that have been linked to radio blackouts and GPS outages here on Earth. "It is exciting to see these stunning images validate our technologies in what is now the world's first precision formation flying mission," said ESA director of technology Dietmar Pilz in a statement. Researchers behind the stunt are excited to gather even more images and data of the Sun's corona. "I was absolutely thrilled to see the images, especially since we got them on the first try," ASPIICS principal investigator Andrei Zhukov added. "Now we are working on extending the observation time to six hours in every orbit." "Each full image — covering the area from the occulted Sun all the way to the edge of the field of view – is actually constructed from three images," he explained. "Combining the three images gives us the full view of the corona." Best of all, Zhukov and his colleagues found that the satellites' "'artificial eclipse' images are comparable with those taken during a natural eclipse." "The difference is that we can create our eclipse once every 19.6-hour orbit," he added, "while total solar eclipses only occur naturally around once, very rarely twice a year." Scientists are already excited about the glut of new observations that could greatly enhance existing research into the Sun's atmosphere, including efforts to use computer simulations to predict future patterns. "This huge flow of observations will help refine computer models further as we compare and adjust variables to match the real images," said ESA space weather modeling coordinator Jorge Amaya in the statement. More on solar eclipses: Here's What NASA's Rovers See During an Eclipse on Mars
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
How scientists created an ‘artificial' total solar eclipse to unlock the Sun's secrets
The sun's corona (or outer atmosphere) has proved a difficult subject for solar scientists on Earth to study, appearing only in a total solar eclipse. This phenomenon, occurring once in around 18 months, was their only opportunity to observe parts of the corona. However, with Proba-3's recent mission, research can advance at a much quicker pace. The European Space Agency (ESA) on June 16, announced that the Proba-3 mission had created an 'artificial total solar eclipse' in orbit. This was achieved as the mission's two spacecraft – the Coronagraph and the Occulter – flew in formation 150 metres apart, and aligned so that the Occulter's disc covered the sun's disc, casting a shadow onto the Coronagraph's optical instrument. 'I was absolutely thrilled to see the images, especially since we got them on the first try,' Andrei Zhukov, principal investigator for ASPIICS at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, said in a statement. The mission was launched in December 2024. It involved sending both satellites into the solar orbit. In March this year, both spacecraft flew 150 metres apart, in formation up to to a millimetre's precision, without control from the Earth for several hours. When creating the artificial solar eclipse, the satellites aligned in formation based on the position of the Sun. Then, Occulter's 1.4-metre large disc would be used to block the sun's disc. This would cast a shadow of approximately 8 centimetre, across the Coronagraph's optical instruments, positioned behind the Occulter. Thanks to the precision, these instruments were able to provide the images of the corona. 'Our 'artificial eclipse' images are comparable with those taken during a natural eclipse. The difference is that we can create our eclipse once every 19.6-hour orbit, while total solar eclipses only occur naturally around once, very rarely twice a year. On top of that, natural total eclipses only last a few minutes, while Proba-3 can hold its artificial eclipse for up to 6 hours,' Zhukov explained. This mission could prove crucial for solar scientists, with previously unseen angles of the elusive corona becoming available for study. One benefit could be the study of solar wind, described by the ESA as 'the continuous flow of matter from the Sun into outer space.' Driven by the corona, these winds usually consist of charged particles, and constantly rain down upon the Earth as well. However, this can be interrupted by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or solar storms. This subsequently affects space weather, which in turn can affect Earth's power grids, communication systems, and satellite operations. With the data from the Proba-3 mission and any subsequent missions focused on corona imaging, solar scientists can be better prepared for the potential threat of a severe solar storm – which NASA describes as 'a sudden explosion of particles, energy, magnetic fields, and material blasted into the solar system by the Sun'. Another question that Proba-3 would be able to solve is how the corona, which extends millions of miles across space, but still reaches temperatures above a million degrees Celsius, burns much hotter than the surface. To understand the reasoning, Proba-3 is attempting to study the corona at a minimal distance from the sun's surface. Due to the quality of the equipment, fewer stray rays would hit the detector, more details would be captured, and fainter features would be detected as compared to a traditional coronagraph. 'Current coronagraphs are no match for Proba-3, which will observe the Sun's corona down almost to the edge of the solar surface. So far, this was only possible during natural solar eclipses,' Jorge Amaya, Space Weather Modelling Coordinator at ESA, said in the ESA release. Alongside the key data provided by Proba-3, its precision flying in formation also paved the way for future missions, such as the ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), scheduled to launch in 2035. This mission will contain three identical spacecraft, arranged in an equilateral triangle formation, trailing behind the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The mission is scheduled to last two years, aiming to capture images of the corona for further study, and then re-enter the Earth's atmosphere five years post-launch, as per the ESA. (This article has been curated by Purv Ashar, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
Forbes
18-06-2025
- Science
- Forbes
In Photos: First Ever ‘Fake' Total Solar Eclipse Created In Space
The Sun's inner corona appears greenish in this image taken on 23 May 2025 by the ASPIICS ... More coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA's formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses in orbit. This image, captured in the visible light spectrum, shows the solar corona similarly to how a human eye would see it during an eclipse through a green filter. The hair-like structures were revealed using a specialised image processing algorithm. The European Space Agency has published the first spectacular images of an artificial solar eclipse created in orbit. The pioneering images are from its Proba-3 mission, which features two satellites that fly in formation with millimeter precision, allowing scientists to study the sun's corona without waiting for rare natural eclipses. It's also the world's first precision formation flying mission. Launched on December 5, 2024, from India, Proba-3 is a two-year mission during which a total solar eclipse will be created for six hours in every 19.6-hour orbit. 'Our 'artificial eclipse' images are comparable with those taken during a natural eclipse," said Andrei Zhukov, Principal Investigator for ASPIICS at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. The Sun's inner corona, coloured artificially to appear violet, in an image taken on 23 May 2025 by ... More the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA's formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses in orbit. This image shows the corona in polarised white light, captured using a special technique which allows scientists to separate the hot corona's polarized light from the light scattered by interplanetary dust. 'The difference is that we can create our eclipse once every 19.6-hour orbit, while total solar eclipses only occur naturally around once, very rarely twice a year. On top of that, natural total eclipses only last a few minutes, while Proba-3 can hold its artificial eclipse for up to 6 hours.' One satellite, the Occulter, acts as an artificial moon, blocking the sun's light using a 1.4-meter-diameter disc. It flies exactly 150 meters in front of the Coronagraph satellite, covering the bright disc of the sun and casting an 8 cm shadow across onto its imager — mimicking how a total solar eclipse works on Earth. The Sun's inner corona, coloured artificially to appear dark green, in an image taken on 23 May 2025 ... More by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA's formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses in orbit. The ASPIICS instrument captures the solar corona in two different 'spectral lines', each line corresponding to a different element contained in the coronal gases. This image shows observations in the coronal green line – a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that lost half of their electrons due to extremely high temperatures. This allows us to see the hottest contents of the corona, at up to 2 million degrees. On the upper left side, a hot loop can be seen extending from the Sun's surface into the corona, a structure which generally appears following a solar flare. Such a feat of engineering is essential to capture images of the sun's corona — the outer atmosphere of the sun. Only during a total solar eclipse can the corona be glimpsed from Earth's surface, and even then, only for a few minutes from any one location. The solar corona is a mysterious place. It reaches temperatures of over two million degrees Fahrenheit, significantly hotter than the sun's surface. Understanding this mysterious layer is essential for solar physicists because it's the origin of solar wind and space weather that can impact Earth's communications and power systems. The two spacecraft of Proba-3 fly in precise formation about 150 m apart to form an external ... More coronagraph in space, one spacecraft eclipsing the Sun to allow the second to study the otherwise invisible solar corona. The mission is based on some remarkable engineering. The Proba-3 satellites follow a highly elliptical 19.6-hour orbit ranging from 373 miles (600 km) at perigee to 37,000 miles (60,000 km) at apogee, flying in precision formation only near apogee. At apogee, they're as far away from Earth's gravitational force and atmospheric drag, enabling them to fly in formation autonomously, achieving eclipse-like conditions for six hours. The images you see here are created from three exposures and were processed by the ASPIICS Science Operations Centre at Belgium's Royal Observatory. 'Each full image – covering the area from the occulted sun all the way to the edge of the field of view – is actually constructed from three images," said Zhukov. 'The difference between those is only the exposure time, which determines how long the coronagraph's aperture is exposed to light. Combining the three images gives us the full view of the corona.' The paired Proba-3 satellites will have a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee (or top of orbit) ... More of around 60 000 km and perigee of 600 km. Coronagraph observation based on forming an artificial eclipse between the two satellites as well as active formation flying experiments taking place towards apogee, with passive formation flying taking place as the satellites circle closer to Earth. ESA has an open data policy, with all uncalibrated data and images available online to scientists and eclipse enthusiasts alike. Proba-3's mission will last two years, during which approximately 1,000 hours of solar corona images will be gathered. Once it runs out of propellant, it will de-orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
First artificial eclipse in orbit delivers unprecedented glimpse of Sun's corona
In a dazzling first, two European spacecraft —flying in millimeter-perfect formation — have created an artificial solar eclipse in space, capturing the clearest images of the Sun's elusive corona yet. The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission has released its first set of solar corona images, offering a rare glimpse into one of the Sun's most mysterious layers that holds clues to solar storms and space weather. The breakthrough comes after the twin satellites, carrying Coronagraph and Occulter, achieved the remarkable feat of flying 150 meters apart in near-perfect sync, creating an orbiting total eclipse for scientific study. Unlike traditional coronagraphs, which must contend with stray light and Earth's atmosphere, Proba-3 performed this delicate maneuver entirely in space. The Occulter blocked out the Sun's bright disk with a 1.4-meter shield, casting an 8-centimeter-wide shadow onto the Coronagraph's optical instrument, ASPIICS, which then captured the faint, ghostly halo of the corona. With its 5-centimeter aperture, ASPIICS is able to see much closer to the Sun's surface and with greater clarity than ever before. 'Each full image – covering the area from the occulted Sun all the way to the edge of the field of view – is actually constructed from three images. The difference between those is only the exposure time, which determines how long the coronagraph's aperture is exposed to light. Combining the three images gives us the full view of the corona,' said Andrei Zhukov, Principal Investigator for ASPIICS at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. This artificial eclipse can be generated every 19.6 hours and held for up to six hours, a vast improvement over the fleeting minutes of natural eclipses, which occur barely once or twice a year. The solar corona, mysteriously hotter than the surface beneath it, is central to understanding the solar wind and coronal mass ejections. These violent bursts of particles can spark auroras or disrupt communications and power grids on Earth. Proba-3's early observations are already helping refine solar models, especially with the support of ESA's Virtual Space Weather Modelling Centre and KU Leuven's COCONUT software. 'Seeing the first data from ASPIICS is incredibly exciting. Together with the measurements made by another instrument on board, DARA, ASPIICS will contribute to unraveling long-lasting questions about our home star,' says Joe Zender, ESA's Proba-3 project scientist. Proba-3's formation flying relies on a suite of advanced positioning systems developed under ESA's General Support Technology Programme. Mission manager Damien Galano said that the satellites achieved their first precise alignment autonomously, with ground control ready to step in, though future operations aim for full autonomy. 'Having two spacecraft form one giant coronagraph in space allowed us to capture the inner corona with very low levels of stray light in our observations, exactly as we expected.,' Galano said. 'Although we are still in the commissioning phase, we have already achieved precise formation flying with unprecedented accuracy. This is what allowed us to capture the mission's first images, which will no doubt be of high value to the scientific community. The mission also carried two other scientific instruments including the Digital Absolute Radiometer (DARA), which measures the Sun's total energy output, and the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES), which studies electron activity in Earth's radiation belts. Built by a 14-country consortium led by Spain's Sener, with key input from Belgium and India, Proba-3 launched aboard a PSLV-XL rocket from Sriharikota in December 2024. Scientists are now working to extend the eclipse observation window and feed the data into models that could forecast solar activity with greater accuracy. 'Current coronagraphs are no match for Proba-3, which will observe the Sun's corona down almost to the edge of the solar surface. So far, this was only possible during natural solar eclipses,' says Jorge Amaya, Space Weather Modelling Coordinator at ESA. 'This huge flow of observations will help refine computer models further as we compare and adjust variables to match the real images. Together with the team at KU Leuven, which is behind one such model, we have been able to create a simulation of Proba-3's first observations.'
