Solar Eclipse 2011 Seen From Space On Japan's Hinode Satellite (VIDEO)

Many of us have watched a solar eclipse from Earth. But what about from space? This unique video from the Hinode satellite has captured January's annular solar eclipse, while the satellite orbits the Earth! According to NASA, when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun during an annular eclipse, the center of the sun is covered, leaving a bright ring known as an "annulus" around the edge.

Wired Science reports that the Hinode satellite is part of a Japanese mission to study the sun's magnetic fields and surface eruptions. It is armed with an optical, X-ray, and ultraviolet-light telescope.

Miss the solar eclipse? You can also check out some of our earth-based photos of this year's partial eclipse while waiting for the next one. Don't worry, it's an eclipse-heavy year, with three partial-solar and two total-lunar eclipses still to come. Unfortunately, most of us can only see them from an Earth's perspective.

WATCH the eclipse from space:

Comments

[Charles Elk]

08:58 PM on 01/13/2011

LAME!

[needlefingers]

10:55 AM on 01/13/2011

Uhhhh, shouldn't the sun be flaring and boiling?

[ivanalkilovic]

12:35 AM on 01/15/2011

Usually when you see videos of the Sun flaring, it is a time-lapse video taken over a very long period of time. The time needed for the moon to pass across the Sun is relatively short.

[Jabo22]

10:38 AM on 01/13/2011

wow, that moon is fast

[MarkVA71]

09:56 AM on 01/13/2011

Ummm that looked way too much like a cartoon. One would expect more action from the sun... I didn't even see it twinkle...

[EvanGuinness]

09:50 AM on 01/13/2011

Fascinating, how unspectacular a solar eclipse looks, seen from space :)

[Andrew Milner]

09:17 AM on 01/13/2011

A solar eclipse! The cosmic ballet... goes on.

[El Verdad]

09:38 AM on 01/13/2011

"My work here is done"

"Your work...you didn't do anything?"

"Didin't I.....?"

Thanks for the morning Simpsons reference. Fanned.