{"id":299377,"date":"2025-06-17T20:25:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/see-the-beauty-of-an-artificial-solar-eclipse-created-with-a-first-of-its-kind-perfect-satellite-formation\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T20:25:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:25:58","slug":"see-the-beauty-of-an-artificial-solar-eclipse-created-with-a-first-of-its-kind-perfect-satellite-formation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=299377","title":{"rendered":"See the Beauty of an Artificial Solar Eclipse, Created With a First-of-Its-Kind, ‘Perfect’ Satellite Formation"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Two satellites\u2019 highly precise alignment allows scientists to study the sun\u2019s outer atmosphere like never before<\/h2>\n
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\n \"Margherita\n <\/div>\n
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Margherita Bassi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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The sun\u2019s corona on May 23, 2025, as imaged by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. The hair-like structures appeared with the help of an image processing algorithm.
\n ESA \/ Proba-3 \/ ASPIICS \/ WOW algorithm, ESA Standard Licence<\/span>
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One of the ways that scientists study solar wind<\/a>\u2014charged particles streaming from the sun\u2019s surface\u2014is by observing the sun\u2019s outer atmosphere, called the corona<\/a>. But because the sun is so blindingly bright, observations of this ethereal region can only be conducted with a telescope attachment called a coronograph\u2014or during a total solar eclipse. To address this issue, a consortium led by the European Space Agency (ESA) decided to create its own solar eclipses.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, the agency\u2019s Proba-3 mission<\/a> launched into space, taking with it two spacecraft: the Coronagraph and the Occulter. In March, the Earth-orbiting satellites flew in \u201cperfect formation<\/a>,\u201d 492 feet apart from each other, for hours, with one blotting out the surface of the sun from the other\u2019s perspective in a first-of-its-kind feat.<\/p>\n

Though the maneuver took place under the watchful gaze of ground control, the satellites aligned and maintained their relative positions, down to a single millimeter, autonomously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe almost couldn\u2019t believe our eyes,\u201d Andrei Zhukov<\/a>, the principal investigator for the Coronagraph\u2019s optical instrument at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, tells the Associated Press<\/a>\u2019 Marcia Dunn. \u201cThis was the first try, and it worked. It was so incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eclipse-making double-satellite | Proba-3<\/p>\n

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