MTG-I1 Watched Europe's Eclipse From 36,000 km Up

ESA's geostationary weather satellite tracked the Moon's shadow across the Iberian peninsula in real time.

By The space-quantum Desk

Between 20:26 and 20:34 CEST, parts of the Iberian peninsula experienced a total solar eclipse — and a satellite 36,000 km overhead caught every second of it. [1]

[1]

[1] The total eclipse lasted just a few minutes on mainland Europe, though a partial eclipse was visible as far north as the Nordic countries and as far south as Sierra Leone and Liberia on the western coast of Africa. [1]

Weather satellites were built to watch clouds and storms, but a shadow crossing a continent turns out to be exactly the kind of large, slow, trackable phenomenon that geostationary optics handle well.

[1] There are more solar eclipses to come between now and 2028. [1]

The next eclipse will find the constellation even better positioned — two imagers where one stood before.

converging with the advancing twilight shadow as dusk fell over EuropeESA