However, the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse over Antarctica on December 4, 2021 was recorded by NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DISCOVR) satellite. This rare photo taken from nearly 1 million miles in space shows how the Antarctic region is covered in black shadow.
This photo taken by NOAA’s DISCOVR tracks a solar eclipse as the moon’s shadow passes over a remote stretch of Antarctica and the south pole on December 4, 2021. The DISCOVR or EPIC Polychromatic Imaging Camera of Earth, made by NASA captures the scene.
Taken from more than 950,000 miles (1.5 million km), the moon’s shadow appears as a dark smudge at the very bottom of our Earth. “The EPIC instrument on the DSCOVR spacecraft captured the eclipsed umbra, the dark inner shadow of planet Earth,” NASA officials wrote.
DISCOVR also gets a full disc view of the Earth that even astronauts can’t access. That said, the crew of Expedition 66 on the International Space Station did see a longitude shadow from an altitude of 250 miles (400 km). (Read also; Indonesia and India Link Solar Eclipse with Superstition )
DISCOVR’s usual mission is also focused on the sun, but at a completely different angle. DISCOVR monitors the solar wind, or the constant stream of particles flowing from our sun across the solar system.
Charged particles carried by the solar wind can affect everything. From auroral activity to impacts on satellites, power lines and astronaut health. (Read also; Total Solar Eclipse at the End of 2021, Where Can It Be Visible? )
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