European satellites create first artificial solar eclipse

A pair of European satellites has created the first artificial solar eclipses by flying in precise and fancy formation, providing hours of on-demand totality for scientists.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

The European Space Agency released the eclipse pictures at the Paris Air Show Monday. Launched late last year, the orbiting duo has churned out simulated solar eclipses since March while zooming tens of thousands of miles (kilometers) above Earth.

Flying 492 feet (150 meters) apart, one satellite blocks the sun like the moon does during a natural total solar eclipse as the other aims its telescope at the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere that forms a crown or halo of light.