The sun’s corona on May 23, 2025, as imaged by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. The hair-like structures appeared with the help of an image processing algorithm.

The Occulter casts a shadow 8 centimeters (3.15 inches) across onto the Coronagraph optical instrument, ASPIICS. “I was absolutely thrilled to see the images, ...

In this configuration, the Occulter orients itself to block the disk of the Sun, while the Coronagraph snaps observations of the corona in different wavelengths using its ASPIICS instrument, which ...

The Occulter casts a shadow 8 centimeters (3.15 inches) across onto the Coronagraph optical instrument, ASPIICS. “I was absolutely thrilled to see the images, ...

In a dazzling first, two European spacecraft —flying in millimeter-perfect formation — have created an artificial solar eclipse in space, capturing the clearest images of the Sun’s elusive ...

The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission has achieved a groundbreaking feat by capturing the first images of the Sun's corona using an artificial solar eclipse created in space. Two spacecraft ...

The coronal green line — the hottest part of the sun's inner corona — and a loop following a solar flare, in an image taken on May 23, 2025, by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. | Credit ...

On Monday, June 16, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that its Proba-3 mission created the world’s first artificial total solar eclipse. The mission’s two satellites, the Occulter and ...

How were the artificial eclipses created? During the eclipses, the ASPIICS optical instrument on the Coronagraph captured images of the solar corona while the Occulter blocked out the sun's light.

"ASPIICS will contribute to unravelling long-lasting questions about our home star." Rather than relying on humans, the spacecraft lined themselves up with the sun in a manner "akin to driverless ...

Andrei Zhukov, lead scientist for ASPIICS at the Royal Observatory of Belgium proudly proclaims that "our 'artificial eclipse' images are comparable with those taken during a natural eclipse." ...

The ASPIICS instrument will also contain a smaller, secondary occulter disk, to cut down on diffracted light that could spill around the main occulter’s edges.