Watch the solar eclipse from space: Watch the incredible moment the International Space Station flew into the moon’s shadow

Yesterday, about 32 million Americans were lucky enough to see the total solar eclipse from Earth.

This rare event occurred when the moon moved directly between the sun and Earth, providing some fantastic photo opportunities.

But another select group of people had a unique vantage point of the entire spectacle – about 260 miles above our planet.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were able to film the moon’s shadow as it plunged the North American day into darkness.

The clip shows the 115-mile-wide shadow or “umbra” moving north from New York State to Newfoundland, Canada.

NASA posted the video on X (Twitter) with the caption: Ever seen a total solar eclipse from space?’

“Here’s our astronauts’ view from the @Space_Station.”

The video was filmed by NASA flight engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps, two of the seven people currently aboard the ISS.

NASA said crew members had the opportunity to view the shadow at the end of their work day, which was filled with “cargo transfers, spacesuit maintenance and microgravity research.”

Although the moon’s umbra passed over New York state in the clip, the ISS was about 260 miles above southeastern Canada.

Dominick and Epps had the camera pointed south as the round shadow moved at about 1,500 miles per hour.

From the ISS, a view of the eclipse itself (the moon moving across the sun) was only accessible through a few windows in the space station’s Roscosmos segment, NASA said

NASA flight engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps were inside photographing and filming the Earth’s moon shadow, or umbra, below them. They orbited 260 miles above southeastern Canada as the moon’s umbra moved from New York state to Newfoundland.

The International Space Station is a large spacecraft in orbit around Earth, currently occupied by seven people

In NASA’s coverage, the view of the eclipse from Houlton, Maine is streamed alongside a view of the moon’s shadow over Earth from the ISS

Snapshot during a total solar eclipse: The red line shows the perfect alignment of the center of the sun (left) and the center of the moon (center) with the Earth (right). On Earth, the center of the moon’s shadow sees a total solar eclipse (blocking out the entire sun). The rest of the shadow sees a partial eclipse (where part of the sun is blocked). People in the rest of the shadows see a partial solar eclipse because the center of the moon is slightly above or slightly below the center of the sun from the viewer’s perspective. In fact, part of the sun ‘bleeps’ out because the sun does not completely block it

However, NASA said the segment “may not be accessible due to cargo restrictions.”

But even if the crew members couldn’t see the eclipse, the view of the shadow above the Earth provided a pretty stunning alternative.

Monday’s rare event, dubbed the “Great American Eclipse,” marked the first total solar eclipse visible anywhere in the world since December 2021, and the first from the US since August 2017.

Its path of totality — where the moon completely blocked the sun — traveled from Mexico’s Pacific coast to U.S. states including Texas, Illinois, Ohio and New York in the early afternoon.

It then made its way to Canada, from the city of Montreal to the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon and sun are perfectly aligned and the moon is close enough to us to cover the entire sun from our perspective.

“Under those conditions the moon casts a small shadow on the Earth’s surface,” says Dr Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“The people standing in the shadow as it moves over them will be lucky to see a total solar eclipse.”

Even outside the path of totality, observers could see a partial solar eclipse, in which the sun was partially covered by the moon, making it appear as if a ‘bite’ had been taken out of the sun.

This partial eclipse was also expected to be visible in the westernmost parts of Britain, but was largely obscured by cloud cover.

The moon partially covers the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, April 8, 2024

People on the National Mall watch a partial solar eclipse, with the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, USA behind it. The narrow path of totality crossed thirteen American states

Unfortunately, the next total solar eclipse won’t be visible in Britain for 66 years.

It will take place on September 23, 2090 and will be the first total solar eclipse visible from Britain since August 11, 1999, and the first visible from Ireland since May 22, 1724.

After Monday, the next solar eclipse will be an annular solar eclipse on October 2, but it will only be visible from the southernmost points of Argentina and Chile, as well as from Easter Island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

Other parts of South America, including Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, as well as Hawaii and New Zealand, should see a partial solar eclipse that day.