In the early hours of April 20 a solar eclipse took place. This was a hybrid solar eclipse, where first there is a total eclipse, which is then followed by an annular eclipse. This rare phenomenon is caused by the curvature of the Earth.
Regions on Earth that saw, at least, a partial eclipse include parts of South/East Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. This meant that only a very small fraction of the world's population was able to witness this event.
Even if it was a difficult eclipse to observe from the ground, PROBA2 had a front-row seat! Our EUV-telescope SWAP was able to register no less than 5 passages of the Moon in its field-of-view. Of those 5 passages, there were only 3 where the Moon actually moved in front of the solar disk. We then speak of an occultation. These were also closely observed by our LYRA instrument.
![](https://www.sidc.be/sites/default/files/2023-04/20Apr2023ecl_unit1DC.png)
Click on the image below to see the full SWAP movie for this event.
![](https://www.sidc.be/sites/default/files/2023-04/swap_eclipse_2023_04_20_logos.png)