A solar eclipse is usually something we wait years to see from Earth. ESA’s Proba-3 mission changes that idea completely. Instead of waiting for the Moon to block the Sun, Europe is using two spacecraft flying in perfect formation to create artificial solar eclipses in space. This allows scientists to observe the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere, the corona, in far greater detail — and it could help us better understand solar wind, space weather, and the storms that affect satellites, GPS, radio signals, and power grids on Earth.
A new chapter in space exploration is unfolding, and this time the public is invited to take part. With Euclid Space Warps, volunteers around the world can help scientists search for rare cosmic phenomena known as strong gravitational lenses in real images from ESA’s Euclid space telescope. These warped galaxies, arcs, rings, and repeated images are more than beautiful distortions. They are clues to the hidden structure of the universe, including dark matter, dark energy, and the way gravity bends spacetime itself.
