// SPACE.COM — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
See gorgeous views of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse captured from space
Orbiting spacecraft captured incredible views of the moon's shadow darkening Earth during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse.
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The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse didn't only plunge millions of people across Greenland, Iceland and Spain into a false twilight — a fleet of spacecraft orbiting our planet managed to capture the magic, too.
August's total solar eclipse occurred as the moon passed directly between the sun and Earth during its monthly new moon phase. Those lucky enough to be in the path of totality watched on in awe as the moon progressively swallowed the light of the sun, ultimately revealing our star's tenuous atmosphere against a prematurely darkened evening sky.
It was a show of truly epic proportions — and maybe one whose scale can be particularly appreciated when viewed through the mechanical eyes of NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft that observe our planet and sun from afar. Read on to see some breathtaking views of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse from orbit.
Our first view comes courtesy of NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, who captured the moon taking a bite out of the sun from the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 12.
"Given the location of the @Space_Station at the time of the total solar eclipse today, we saw only a partial eclipse, with a peak of around 18% sun coverage," Meir said in an X post accompanying the photographs.
Given the location of the @Space_Station at the time of the total solar eclipse today, we saw only a partial eclipse, with a peak of around 18% sun coverage. Here’s how it looked from a window in the Russian segment about 45 minutes ago. Photo of the sun taken with a Nikon Z9,… pic.twitter.com/BUrMQVR808August 12, 2026
Around the same time, photographer Joel Kowsky managed to line up a beautiful shot of the ISS as it passed across the face of our eclipsed star in the skies over Hodgdon, Maine.
The dual spacecraft of the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission also captured a lovely (though largely redundant) view of the moon moving to occult the sun's disk, which, in this case, was already perfectly hidden behind the lead spacecraft's coronograph!