In the early hours of April 20 a solar eclipse took place. This was a hybrid solar eclipse, where first there is a total eclipse, which is then followed by an annular eclipse. This rare phenomenon is caused by the curvature of the Earth.
Regions on Earth that saw, at least, a partial eclipse include parts of South/East Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. This meant that only a very small fraction of the world's population was able to witness this event.
Even if it was a difficult eclipse to observe from the ground, PROBA2 had a front-row seat! Our EUV-telescope SWAP was able to register no less than 5 passages of the Moon in its field-of-view. Of those 5 passages, there were only 3 where the Moon actually moved in front of the solar disk. We then speak of an occultation. These were also closely observed by our LYRA instrument.
Click on the image below to see the full SWAP movie for this event.
