On April 8, humanity experienced a total solar eclipse that captured the attention of millions around the world and the POT has provided a unique perspective on this recent astronomical spectacle.
The images, taken from the International Space Station (ISS)offer a dazzling view of how the umbra, or shadow of the Moon, obscured large swathes of territory in North America, including parts of Quebec, New Brunswick in Canada and Maine in the U.S. It was also seen at 100% in regions of the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila.
Solar eclipse from space:
The ISS Expedition 71which orbits about 420 kilometers above Earthwitnessed this natural phenomenon from a privileged perspective.
The astronauts captured the time when the Moon completely blocked the Sunplunging several regions into darkness for more than four minutes at some points along its trajectory, which spanned from Mexico through United States to Canada.
The photographs were obtained through windows located in the Roscosmos segment of the station.
In them you can see the precision with which the shadow of the Moon was projected on the Eartha, creating an impressive visual spectacle for observers from space.
Matthew Dominick, astronaut and NASA engineer, contributed by capturing the Sun's transit 413 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico, showing it as a bright white sphere.
Speed and Orbit of the ISS:
Despite the speed with which this phenomenon occurs, the space station, which travels at about 28,000 kilometers per hour and completes one Earth orbit every 90 minutes, allowed its crew members to obtain a fleeting but historic view of the eclipse.
This event not only stood out for its beauty, but also for the extraordinary coordination and technology necessary to capture these images from a constantly moving platform.
The Expedition 71 team later shared a video documenting this rare perspective, allowing people around the world indirectly experience the magnitude of this solar eclipse total through the eyes of rocket science.
This material adds to the valuable collection of visual records of astronomical phenomena that NASA has provided over the years, reinforcing the agency's role in global science education and dissemination.
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