For the first time in more than a century, Spain witnessed a total solar eclipse. The astronomical phenomenon, which was also partially visible in some regions of northern North America, much of Europe, and western Africa, offered an unusual and particularly photogenic sight due to the sun’s position just above the horizon.
The path of totality traversed the Northern Hemisphere from west to east. Its path began in the Arctic Ocean, north of Greenland, continued west of Iceland, and crossed the North Atlantic. Later, at exactly 8:30 p.m. CEST, the shadow cast by the moon reached the Iberian peninsula.
Regions such as Galicia, Asturias, Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands experienced the path of totality, while the rest of the country saw a partial eclipse.
The event lasted about four and a half hours, while the total darkening of the sky lasted just under two minutes, allowing various space agencies to conduct scientific experiments along the path of totality.
One of the most notable projects involved a NASA mission tracking the moon’s shadow using a WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft that flew at an altitude of 50,000 feet. A team of scientists sought to gather new data on the dynamics of the solar corona—the sun’s outermost atmosphere—which can only be studied in detail during total eclipses.
The space agency also brought students from various universities in the US to Iceland and Spain to launch scientific balloons before, during, and after the event. The goal was to analyze how the temporary darkening of the sky caused by the eclipse alters conditions in Earth’s atmosphere, gathering information that will help better understand the effects of these astronomical events on the environment.
Later this month, a partial lunar eclipse will be visible across the Americas, offering new opportunities for researching the cosmos. In the meantime, we have the images of Wednesday’s solar spectacle to gawk at.
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
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