Satellite images capture striking differences between the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses that swept across North America, including variations in the moon's shadow along the path of totality.
North America has experienced two transcontinental total solar eclipses within the last seven years, and these satellite images compare the crisscrossing paths of totality.
Incredibly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-16 satellite tracked both total solar eclipses from space, documenting the location of the moon's shadow cast upon Earth in 5- to 10-minute intervals. Recent composite images compare the two solar eclipses and their nearly opposite paths of totality — the brief period of time during which the moon completely covers the face of the sun — that swept across North America.
The images comprise multiple snapshots of the moon's shadow as fell across different locations along the path of totality. An overlay of images taken during the two solar eclipses really emphasizes how the paths of totality differed.
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