August 21, 2026

NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space

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NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space

A sequence of images in a diagonal line from upper left to lower right shows the progression of a total solar eclipse, with an uneclipsed Sun in the upper left and other images showing the Sun becoming more and more eclipsed toward the lower right. A total eclipse, with the white corona around the dark disk of the Moon, appears in the line of eclipse images, near the center. Three more images to the lower right of the total eclipse show a crescent Sun becoming less eclipsed. The final image in the lower right shows the Sun starting to dip below the horizon, with its lower portions covered by the foreground.

This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse as the Sun sets over San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.

Credits:
NASA/Bill Ingalls

On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse darkened skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. As the Moon covered the Sun, it briefly revealed the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere — the corona — to those in the path of totality who were lucky enough to have clear skies. NASA researchers and photographers were along the eclipse path to study the corona, capture the phenomenon, and observe how the eclipse affected our planet.

One NASA photographer in Spain captured the total solar eclipse as well as the partial phases before and after, until the Sun set below the horizon.

In a dusky sky above a field of sunflowers, a sequence of images shows the progression of a total solar eclipse, from an uneclipsed Sun in the upper left followed by a line of other images showing the Sun becoming more and more eclipsed toward the lower right. A total eclipse, with the white corona around the dark disk of the Moon, appears in the line of eclipse images, near the horizon. A couple more images show a red crescent Sun to the lower right of the total eclipse image. — This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse over a field of sunflowers in San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

In this photograph of a total solar eclipse, the black disk of the Moon covers the face of the Sun, leaving a glowing, yellow, hazy ring of corona around the edges of the Moon, with large streamers extending toward the upper left, lower left, and lower right. — The solar corona appears in this photograph of a total solar eclipse captured from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

In northern Maine, where only a partial eclipse was visible, another NASA photographer captured the International Space Station, with its crew of seven aboard, speeding past the partially eclipsed Sun.

A partially eclipsed Sun appears with the Moon blocking a small portion of the Sun at top. Clouds also appear in front of the Sun. To the left of center is the small silhouette of the International Space Station. A few sunspots appear on the Sun to the left of the space station. — In this image of a partial solar eclipse, which is veiled by clouds, the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, appears in silhouette as it transits at roughly five miles per second on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

An animated GIF shows the partially eclipsed Sun, with the Moon covering the top part of the Sun and thin clouds in front of the Sun, appearing like smoke. During the animation, a silhouette of the International Space Station passes from right to left across the center of the Sun. — Twelve frames assembled in sequence show the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Clouds partially obscure the view of the Sun. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Meanwhile, from about 250 miles above the ground, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped a few photos of the partial eclipse from their perspective as well.

A photo shows the partially eclipsed Sun as a white disk, set against a black sky, with a small

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured this photo of the partial solar eclipse from the International Space Station on Aug. 12, 2026, as the orbital outpost soared 262 miles above southern Quebec, Canada. From the station, the Moon covered about 18% of the Sun at the peak of the eclipse. Credit: NASA/Jessica Meir

Between the ground and the space station, NASA pilots flew NASA’s WB-57F research jet at an altitude of 50,000 feet, passing through the eclipse’s shadow to lengthen their time in the eclipse. The jet carried a suite of cameras that captured high-resolution images of the corona and prominences, plumes of electrically charged gas rising off the Sun, in several different wavelengths of light.

The total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, was captured by a camera mounted inside the cockpit window of NASA’s WB-57F aircraft as it flew around 50,000 feet altitude off the coast of Iceland.

NASA

Four panels show the left edge of the eclipsed Sun in different wavelengths of light. In each image is a cloud of material, a prominence, rising off the left edge of the Sun. The prominence appears in different colors and resolutions in each image. The four images are labeled Visible, Near Infrared, Short-Wave Infrared, and Mid-Wave Infrared.

A suite of cameras installed on NASA’s WB-57F aircraft captured images of the solar corona and prominences in different wavelengths of visible and infrared light during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. A science team led by the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, will analyze the images to learn more about complex and dynamic features in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Credit: NASA/SwRI/Will Ashfield

In both Iceland and Spain, teams of students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project launched scientific balloons that carried instruments to capture images of the eclipse’s shadow and study the eclipse’s effects on our atmosphere. Even though clouds obscured the view of the eclipse from the ground in Iceland, the weather did not interfere with the balloon-borne instruments’ ability to gather information about how the brief loss of light and heat affected the lower atmosphere.

Four students in jackets hold a large white balloon in a grassy field under a gray, cloudy sky.

Students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project prepare to launch a scientific balloon in Mosfellsbær, Iceland, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Abbey Interrante

The Moon’s shadow passes over the atmosphere during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. The video was taken by a camera carried by a scientific balloon launched from Spain by a student team from Montana State University participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. The video captures about six minutes of time but is sped up to play at four times real speed. Passing through the foreground are some other science instruments carried by the same balloon.

Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project/Montana State University

Before the eclipse, scientists at Predictive Science Inc., with support from NASA grants and supercomputers, used observations of the Sun from NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes to predict what the corona would look like during the eclipse. Below, their corona prediction is compared to a composite image of the corona, which combines multiple images captured by the NASA-supported DEB Initiative project during the total eclipse near León, Spain.

prediction

image

This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day.

Predictive Science Inc.

An image of a total solar eclipse shows the Moon as a black disk at the center surrounded by white rays extending outward around the Moon, set against a gray background. Some of the rays are longer or thicker than others.

This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026.

DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge

This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day.

Predictive Science Inc.

This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026.

DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge

prediction

image

The left image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. The right image is processed, composite image of the corona that combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Left image credit: Predictive Science Inc.; right image credit: DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge

Over the coming months, scientists will analyze the observations and images captured during the solar eclipse on Aug. 12 and present what they have learned about the Sun and its effects on our home planet. These observations will also help prepare science teams to investigate future solar eclipses, such as a much longer total solar eclipse that will be visible from southern Spain and northern Africa on Aug. 2, 2027.

Read more about NASA’s research during the eclipse and rewatch NASA’s eclipse broadcast to hear from some of the scientists and students who conducted the experiments.

About the Author

Vanessa Thomas

Vanessa Thomas is a science writer with the heliophysics communications team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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Aug 21, 2026

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