Solar eclipses aren't just for earthlings.
Space.com reports that NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured video and pictures of a partial solar eclipse that took place when the moon "crossed part of the sun's face" on Tuesday.
The event was visible only from space and was catalogued by SDO from its location 22,000 miles above Earth.
But Ned Potter of ABC News noted that, technically, what SDO captured is not an eclipse:
If you want to be pedantic, what SDO saw was really a transit instead of an eclipse. While the moon appeared to pass over the face of the sun, the word eclipse is often reserved for when that’s seen from Earth.
The SDO footage comes just days after the observatory captured video of solar twisters blowing across the surface of the sun.
SDO's most recent video, as its YouTube description explains, shows the lunar eclipse "in a variety of wavelengths ... Each wavelength shows us a different temperature and layer of the Sun, allowing us to study the Sun and its activities."
The next chance for earth's inhabitants to catch a partial solar eclipse comes on May 20, 2012. The next total eclipse, however, won't occur until Nov. 13, MSNBC's Photo Blog reports.
Hat tip: Craig Kanalley
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Posted: 02/22/12 05:55 PM ET | Updated: 02/22/12 05:55 PM ET