Solar eclipse from space: International Space Station astronauts and European Space Agency tweet spectacular images

Photos taken from satellites show the eclipse from slightly closer

A partial solar eclipse of the sun is visible in Rabat, Morocco

While the patchy weather as the eclipse moved across the UK today meant that some people were unable to see it at all, there were others with the best possible view — satellites floating outside Earth’s atmosphere.

A camera in space took beautiful pictures that were posted by the European Space Agency, and those onboard the International Space Station were able to take a break from experiments to take photos from the satellite.

The European Space Agency posted a photo taken from Proba-2, a sun-watching mini-satellite that was able to take a picture of the moon and sun nearly at totality. The agency used the satellite’s “SWAP imager”, which is able to see various ultraviolent wavelengths to study the sun and the coronas that swirl off it.

The agency also posted a video showing the moon as it passed over the sun.

Sam Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut who is living on the International Space Station, tweeted a photos from the eclipse from onboard the satellite.

As expected the images from space are much clearer than those taken on the Earth — being outside the atmosphere means that clouds and other problems can’t get in the way. But even with those barriers, some people managed to take spectacular images with their feet on the ground.