The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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A composite of space- and ground-based observations in different wavelengths gathered on the day of the solar eclipse of 3 November 2013. The result is an overall view of the Sun and its surrounding corona, extending far out into space.
Close-in views of the solar disc and its surroundings in extreme-ultraviolet light are covered by the Royal Observatory of Belgium’s SWAP instrument aboard ESA’s Proba-2 minisatellite and the AIA and HMI instruments aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory mission. The surrounding inner corona is depicted through a combination of white-light images acquired from the ground along the path of totality, from Port Gentil in Gabon and Pokwero in Uganda. The outer corona is depicted through the white-light LASCO-C2 and C3 coronagraph instruments aboard the ESA/NASA SOHO satellite.
The planet Saturn is visible at the top left of the picture as a bright saturated object, coincidentally giving an impression of rings. To see more of the eclipse in multiple wavelengths, check this video.