View of the Moons shadow over North America caught during the overall solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, utilizing the NASAs EPIC imager on the DSCOVR satellite.Satellites collected striking views of the Moons shadow from above as observers on the ground respected the Suns corona.On April 8, 2024, countless Americans saw day turn briefly to night as the Moon passed in between the Sun and Earth to produce a total solar eclipse.As individuals in the 115-mile-wide (185-kilometer-wide) path of totality searched for and saw the Moon conceal the intense orb of the Sun and odd all but its wispy corona, Earth-observing satellites captured images of the Moons shadow as it raced eastward over North America.About 1 million miles from Earth, NASAs EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) imager on the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite, recorded the above views of Earth between 16:02 and 20:32 Universal Time (12:02 and 4:32 p.m. Eastern Time). DSCVR is a joint NASA, NOAA, and U.S. Air Force satellite constructed to observe our planet from Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally steady position between the Sun and Earth.The Moons shadow swept over North America, from the Pacific coast of Mexico, through Texas, and over the Great Lakes before crossing the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.Observers on the ground had a rare view of the Suns active external atmosphere, or corona. Radiant loops of plasma called solar prominences might also be seen extending into the corona. Plasma is super-hot ionized gas that flows along the twisted and tangled structure of the Suns magnetic fields.”This view of the corona will never take place once again, ever,” said Michael Kirk, a research study scientist in the Heliophysics Division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center during a live broadcast of the eclipse from Dallas, Texas. Throughout the broadcast, Kirk noted that the spiky and unbalanced nature of the corona was a sign that the Suns magnetic field was active and approaching solar maximum.April 8, 2024As the Moons shadow moved east throughout North America, the NOAA-20 satellite orbited the Earth from pole to pole and captured pictures of Earth from east to west. The image above is a mosaic consisted of swaths of images collected by the satellite at 3 different times on April 8. The ideal third of the image shows the eastern United States at about 1:10 p.m. Eastern Time (17:10 Universal Time), before the eclipse had started. The middle part was recorded at about 1:50 p.m. Central Time (18:50 Universal Time), when the eclipse was in development in the center of the nation. Even beyond the path of totality, skies were much darker throughout the U.S. The left third of the image was gathered at about 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (20:30 Universal Time), after the Moons shadow had left over the Atlantic Ocean.The course of totality consisted of portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The next overall solar eclipse to travel across the lower 48 states from coast to coast will remain in 2045. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison and Wanmei Liang, using information from DSCOVR EPIC and VIIRS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
