Total Solar Eclipse from Space: Elon Musk shares rare video of eclipse as seen from Earth’s orbit

Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to show the spectacular view of the total solar eclipse from space. Unlike what it looks like from the planet's surface, from space it looks a lot like black shadow on the surface of the Earth. 

The Total Solar Eclipse from the orbit: 

View of the eclipse from orbit
pic.twitter.com/2jQGNhPf2v

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2024

What is a Solar Eclipse?
The shadow on the surface of earth makes it clear that a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, obscuring the Sun from a small part of the Earth, either totally or partially. This alignment happens approximately every six months, during the eclipse season in its new moon phase, when the Moon’s orbital plane is closest to the plane of Earth’s orbit.

Types of Solar Eclipse

Total Eclipse: The Moon completely obscures the intensely bright light of the Sun, allowing the much fainter solar corona to be visible. This type of eclipse is observable only within the narrow strip of land or sea over which the umbra, the darkest part of the Moon’s shadow, passes.

Partial Eclipse: The Moon’s disk appears projected against the Sun’s disk so as to overlap it partly. The eclipse is then called partial for that observer. A partial eclipse may be seen from places within the large area covered by the penumbra, the part of the Moon’s shadow where only a part of the Sun’s disk is obscured.

Annular Eclipse: This occurs when the Moon is too far away to completely cover the Sun’s disk. During this type of eclipse, the Moon is in front of the Sun but does not cover it completely, leaving a ring of sunlight visible around the Moon.

Hybrid Eclipse: This is a rare form of solar eclipse, which changes between a total and annular eclipse. At certain points on the surface of Earth, it appears as a total eclipse, whereas at other points it appears as annular.