The total eclipse over North America, seen from space

April 9 () –

Geostationary satellites that They orbit 36,000 kilometers away captured images of the total solar eclipse that crossed North America on April 8.

This sequencereleased by the European Space Agency, corresponds to the observation made by the GOES 16 satellite of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and NASA.

Shows the moon's shadow moving across North America approximately between 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. UTC.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth and, for a short period, blocks the face of the Sun, leaving a faint ring of visible light, known as the Sun's corona.

The path of the Moon's shadow across the Earth's surface, called the path of totality, extended across the entire North American continent, from Mexico to the eastern tip of Canada.

The GOES series is a collaborative development and acquisition effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. The GOES-16 (GOES-East) satellite, the first in the series, provides continuous images and atmospheric measurements of Earth's western hemisphere and monitors space weather.

The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission also captured images of the eclipse with its Land and Sea Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR).

The eclipse also acts as a laboratory to investigate what happens to the weather when the Moon's shadow passes. Shade lowers air temperature and can cause clouds to evolve in different ways. Data from GOES, Sentinel-3 and other satellites are currently being used to explore these effects, ESA reports.