Solar eclipse seen by PROBA-2
Date: 30 January 2011
Copyright: ESA/ROB
People across Africa and Asia marvelled at the solar eclipse that took place on 15 January. At the same time it was being recorded from orbit, by ESA's Sun-watching PROBA-2.
The small satellite is demonstrating new space technologies but also hosts scientific instruments to monitor the Sun and space weather. PROBA-2's SWAP (Sun Watcher using APS detectors and imaging processing) instrument acquired the images used to produce this animation. It is a miniaturised version of a similar instrument on the ESA/NASA SOHO observatory, but while SOHO produces a new image only around every quarter of an hour, SWAP can do so every minute.
Last Update: 1 September 2019