ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this image of Earth from the International Space Station on 20 March 2015. As Europe enjoyed a partial solar eclipse parts of our planet were shrouded in the Moon's shadow which can be seen faintly in this image.

Samantha took this picture in between operations for an experiment with the Station's centrifuge.

See the complete set of solar eclipse pictures on Samantha's Flickr page.

Connect with Samantha and her Futura mission at: samanthacristoforetti.esa.int/

Credit: ESA/NASA

Tags:   Solar eclipse ISS Samantha Cristoforetti Space INternational Space Station

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Proba-V, ESA's minisatellite for global vegetation monitoring, captures the shadow of Europe's solar eclipse. On 20 March 2015, a total solar eclipse was experienced in a narrow band along the North Atlantic from the Faroe Islands through Svalbard. Europe and North Africa experienced a partial eclipse, with between 40 – 90% of the solar disc obscured by the Moon. This partial solar eclipse was also observed on the ground by Proba-V. Although over northern Africa virtually no darkening is visible, the shadow casted by the eclipse is well visible over Italy, the Alps, and Central Europe, with the largest darkening over the western part, being closest to the total eclipse band.

Launched in 2013, Proba-V is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days. VITO, the Flemish institute for technological research, performs processes then distributes Proba-V data to users. VITO hosts an online gallery highlighting some of the mission’s most striking images so far, including views of storms, fires and deforestation.

Credit: ESA/VITO

Tags:   Proba V Solar eclipse Italy shadow

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Paxi, the ESA kids' mascot, had some cool customised equipment to watch the #SolarEclipse in the Faroe Islands this morning

Credit: ESA

Tags:   eclipse solar Paxi ESA European Space agency Faroe islands

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As Europe enjoyed a partial solar eclipse on the morning of Friday 20 March 2015, ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite had a ringside seat from orbit. Proba-2 used its SWAP imager to capture the Moon passing in front of the Sun in a near-totality. SWAP views the solar disc at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to capture the turbulent surface of the Sun and its swirling corona.

Click here to view the footage.

Credit: ESA/ROB

Tags:   eclipse solar eclipse eclipse2015 Proba-2

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