NOAA's GOES-19 satellite captures rare view of the September partial solar eclipse from space

gif animation showing the moon approach from the right, then loop back, cross the sun then exit in the lower right corner. — Coronagraph imagery of the partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, 2025. (Image credit: NOAA, GOES-19 CCOR-1)

On Sept. 21, while skywatchers on Earth were eagerly watching a partial solar eclipse unfold, NOAA's space weather sentinel GOES-19 was also keeping watch from orbit.

CCOR-1 is designed to create its own "artificial eclipses." Like all coronagraphs, it uses an occulting disk to block direct sunlight so scientists can study the sun's faint outer atmosphere, known as the corona. But this time, the moon itself scootched between the instrument and the sun, allowing CCOR-1 to briefly witness a true solar eclipse in space.

Eagle-eyed observers among you might have noticed the resulting imagery looked rather strange. Instead of just the solar disk vanishing, the entire corona disappeared. That wasn't a cosmic anomaly; it was a consequence of image processing.

coronagraph view of the moon in the lower right corner and the sun in the center with the central disk blocked so only the outer corona is visible. — NOAA's GOES-19 satellite view of the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, and the moon. (Image credit: NOAA/GOES-19 CCOR-1)

"Normally, each image seen by CCOR-1's detector is a combination of the corona and bright sunlight scattered within the telescope," Bill Thompson of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told Spaceweather.com. "A model of the scattered light is subtracted to reveal the corona. During the eclipse, the scattered light went away, but the subtraction proceeded as if it hadn't. It ended up subtracting too much."

Because CCOR-1 orbits Earth, the moon can occasionally slip between the instrument and the sun. That isn't possible for coronagraphs stationed farther away in space, such as SOHO at the L1 Lagrange point, because the moon would never pass through their field of view. To our knowledge, this may be the first time a space-based coronagraph has ever recorded a natural eclipse.

The moon crosses CCOR-1's field of view roughly once a month, usually in a straight line. But this time, its path appeared to zig-zag. That odd trajectory wasn't caused by the moon but was rather likely the result of a scheduled yaw-flip maneuver that took place on Sept. 22 to help calibrate the spacecraft. The maneuver is designed to alter GOES-19's attitude, its orientation in space, and could have made the moon's otherwise straight path appear crooked in the coronagraph's processed imagery.

Although the flip occurred the day after the eclipse, it's possible that preparations for the maneuver the day before altered GOES-19's attitude, its orientation in space, and made the moon's otherwise straight path appear crooked in the coronagraph's processed imagery.

Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022, having previously worked as a staff writer for All About Space magazine. She completed an editorial internship with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre, communicating space science to the public.

Daisy holds a PhD in plant physiology and a Master's in Environmental Science. Based in Nottingham, U.K., she covers all things space, with a special focus on solar activity and space weather. She also has a keen interest in astrotourism and is always on the lookout for the next northern lights adventure.

She will be a guest speaker aboard HX's Solar Eclipse Expedition in August 2026 and will join Hurtigruten as an onboard astronomer for a northern lights sailing in January 2027.