![\"The](\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" "\\"Formation")
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ESA<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no denying that there\u2019s something truly mesmerising about a total solar eclipse.<\/p>\n
So much so that in the 90s, eclipses were hyped in their run-up, with kids all over the world scrambling to make special \u2018solar eclipse viewers\u2019 out of cereal boxes.<\/p>\n
Then came the truly astonishing moment, when the moon blocks out the sun entirely, with just a small halo remaining, and true darkness sets in on our world\u2026 for a few minutes, at least.<\/p>\n
Though total solar eclipses happen a couple of times every year, they feel rare \u2013 and that\u2019s because in any one place on Earth, a solar eclipse only happens once every 400 years.<\/p>\n
However, as with an ever-increasing number of natural phenomena, the European Space Agency have revealed that they have achieved something incredible: the first \u2018artificial solar eclipse.\u2019<\/p>\n
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ESA<\/p>\n
Achieved using two spacecraft exploring the sun\u2019s outer atmosphere, the ESA\u2019s Proba-3 mission was launched from India in December 2024.<\/p>\n
And though the images of the artificial eclipse are astonishing enough on their own, what is really impressive is the technology that allowed this to happen.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the two satellites fly together as one, and this feat was all thanks to the pair, known as the Coronagraph and the Occulter, flying completely aligned without any assistance from ground control, as the ESA\u2019s Damien Galano\u00a0explained in a statement<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we are still in the commissioning phase, we have already achieved precise formation flying with unprecedented accuracy. This is what allowed us to capture the mission\u2019s first images, which will no doubt be of high value to the scientific community.<\/p>\n The formation flying we have achieved so far was performed autonomously, but under supervision of the ground control team, who were ready to intervene to correct any potential deviations. Our one remaining task is to achieve full autonomy, when our confidence in the system will be such that we will not even routinely monitor from the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to the ESA\u2019s ground-breaking technology, the unmanned spacecraft was able to achieve the extraordinary.<\/p>\n ESA<\/p>\n However, the Coronagraph and the Occulter have much more in store for them during their mission.<\/p>\n As well as capturing incredible images, the spacecraft are sending vital information about the sun\u2019s corona back to Earth.<\/p>\n This will aid our understanding of solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CME) \u2013 constant and sporadic ejections of matter from the sun into space, respectively \u2013 to help safeguard the technologies that life on Earth is reliant on.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because heightened geomagnetic activity can cause solar storms, which interfere with GPS, power grids, and other satellite-based technology, potentially causing chaos at ground level.<\/p>\n But at over a million degrees Celsius, the satellites exploring the sun\u2019s corona have a lot to contend with as they continue their mission.<\/p>\n If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun\u2019s surface. Here\u2019s what it means.<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\tCategories: NATURE\/SPACE<\/a>, SCI\/TECH<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n
Tags: \u00b7 cme<\/a>, Coronal Mass Ejection<\/a>, esa<\/a>, European Space Agency<\/a>, science<\/a>, single topic<\/a>, solar eclipse<\/a>, solar storm<\/a>, solar wind<\/a>, space<\/a>, space travel<\/a>, sun<\/a>, technology<\/a>, top<\/a>, total solar eclipse<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESA There\u2019s no denying that there\u2019s something truly mesmerising about a total solar eclipse. So much so that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,2044,45005,11029,11030,66,14091,10133,3391,11539,306,35678,2047,61,1060,16890],"class_list":["post-72725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cme","tag-coronal-mass-ejection","tag-esa","tag-european-space-agency","tag-science","tag-single-topic","tag-solar-eclipse","tag-solar-storm","tag-solar-wind","tag-space","tag-space-travel","tag-sun","tag-technology","tag-top","tag-total-solar-eclipse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}