Eclipse de Soleil vue d'avion
Making landfall in Oregon, the
Moon's
dark umbral shadow toured the United States on August 21.
Those gathered along its coast to coast path were
witness
to a total eclipse of the Sun, possibly the most
widely shared celestial
event in history.
But first, the Moon's shadow touched the northern Pacific and
raced eastward toward land.
This dramatic snapshot was
taken
while crossing the shadow path 250 miles off the Oregon
coast, 45,000 feet above the cloudy northern Pacific.
Though from a shorter totality, it captures the eclipse
before it could be seen from the US mainland.
With the eclipsed Sun not far above, beautiful colors appear along the
eastern horizon giving way to a clear, pitch-black, stratospheric sky
in the shadow of the Moon.