Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

See a stunning view of today’s solar eclipse as captured from Antarctica

Georgina Torbet
By

A solar eclipse passed over parts of the southern hemisphere early this morning, Saturday, December 4, including parts of South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia.

Live Feed of the Dec. 4, 2021 Total Solar Eclipse

For sky-watchers in the northern hemisphere, the eclipse wasn’t visible. But you can rewatch the event from a unique view: From Union Glacier in Antarctica, the only place on the globe where the eclipse was total. A livestream from Theo Boris and Christian Lockwood of the JM Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition, embedded above, shows beautiful views of the eclipse as it happened.

Recommended Videos

What is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun, blocking out some or all of the sun’s rays from the perspective of Earth. An eclipse is only visible from certain parts of the Earth as they must be in a line with the moon and the sun, and it is only a total solar eclipse (where the entire sun is blocked out) for those located exactly in the center of the shadow cast by the moon.

Related

When the Earth, the moon, and the sun line up just so for the moon to block out most of the sun’s light, observers can see the sun’s outer atmosphere, called its corona, which is normally impossible to see due to the sun’s brightness.

When is the next solar eclipse?

For those in North America who are keen to see a solar eclipse for themselves, the next solar eclipse will occur in October 2023. There will also be a total solar eclipse visible across the continent in April 2024.

How to watch a solar eclipse safely

If you’re planning to observe a solar eclipse in person, it’s important to do so safely. You should never look directly at the sun, as this can damage your eyes even if the sun is partially eclipsed. Instead, you should view the eclipse using a pinhole camera or special eclipse glasses (which are not the same as regular sunglasses).

NASA has a how-to guide for making your own pinhole camera, which can easily be done using household supplies and is a great project to make with children.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
See Mars’s beautiful Jezero Crater from the air in flyover video
Still from the video of Jezero crater created by merging data from various Mars orbiting spacecraft.

If you're feeling in need of some travel to broaden your horizons but you don't have the option to leave home right now, the European Space Agency (ESA) has something special to offer you: A virtual flight over the famous Jezero Crater on Mars.

Visit Jezero Crater on Mars in this flyover created using orbiter data

Read more
NASA map shows where you can see a solar eclipse across the U.S.
Using observations from different NASA missions, this map shows where the Moon’s shadow will cross the U.S. during the 2023 annular solar eclipse and 2024 total solar eclipse. The map was developed by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) in collaboration with the NASA Heliophysics Activation Team (NASA HEAT), part of NASA’s Science Activation portfolio.

Some of the most fascinating astronomical events to see from Earth are solar eclipses, when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun and blocks out some or all of the sun's light. The resulting darkness during daytime is fascinating and can lead to some stunning views -- though, for safety reasons, you should never look directly at the sun and should use a tool like a pinhole camera to observe eclipses instead.

However, these eclipses happen on a rather complex schedule related to the orbit of the moon, so exactly when and where to see an eclipse can be hard to track. To help with this, NASA has created a map of the U.S. showing when and where you can see a solar eclipse in 2023 and 2024.

Read more
See the Ingenuity helicopter’s stunning image of a Martian sunset
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter acquired this image using its high-resolution color camera. This camera is mounted in the helicopter's fuselage and pointed approximately 22 degrees below the horizon. This image was acquired on Feb. 22, 2023 (Sol 714 of the Perseverance rover mission).

The tiny helicopter Ingenuity is continuing to explore Mars, gearing up for its 47th flight. That's a pretty stunning achievement, considering it was originally designed to perform just five flights and has had to deal with changing seasonal conditions including colder temperatures and dropping atmospheric pressure.

Despite the inhospitable environment, the helicopter continues to operate and recently made its longest flight in almost a year. And now, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has shared an image taken by Ingenuity during its 45th flight which shows an otherworldly sunset, as the sun slinks over the Martian horizon.

Read more