Eclipse Shadow from Space

You've probably seen photographs of yesterday's total eclipse of the sun. Or you've seen photos of other eclipses. There's also a good chance, in this internet age, that you've seen a satellite photo of earth at night, showing city lights ablaze.

Here's something of a combination of the two--and a different twist on conventional eclipse photos. The picture was made from Expedition 12, the international space station. The dark area is, of course, the moon's shadow passing over the earth in daylight. The island at the top of the photo is Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. To the left is the coast of Turkey.

While it is impossible to say how many photos were made of the eclipse, we can be sure that not many photographers were able to shoot from this angle.