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Solar Eclipse From the Far Side of the Moon

This shot from Artemis II of the Moon eclipsing the Sun is one of the most breathtaking astronomical photos I’ve ever seen. Holy shit.

Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth.

Thanks to KDO reader Scott for pointing me to NASA’s Flickr account, which is possibly the easiest way to look at photos taken by the Artemis II mission. Like this one:

And this one — then maybe I’ll stop (maybe):

P.S. If you need some Artemis II wallpapers for your phone, right this way.

Comments  8

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M
Maanik Chauhan

Having experienced the awe of just a few minutes of totality on Earth in 2024 I cannot begin to fathom how incredibly awesome the experience of 54 minutes of totality while floating IN SPACE would be. And what an incredible shot of it!

Jonathan Dobres

Astounding.

J
Jean Moore

Thank you for sharing. Catches my breath. The beauty, keeping perspective of this life.

Scott Symes

Flickr getting the bump it deserves today with all the Artemis images going up there. I love it.

Chris Frampton

I mean . . .

Paolo Palombo

These pictures are something else. Thanks for linking to them.

B
Ben Zotto

What's up with the series small craters in very straight lines in the last image? Do we know what causes that?

Jason KottkeMOD

Ooh, good eye! I did a bit of research and they are called crater chains.

Many examples of such chains are thought to have been formed by the impact of a body that was broken up by tidal forces into a string of smaller objects following roughly the same orbit. An example of such a tidally disrupted body that was observed prior to its impact on Jupiter is Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

And:

Crater chains seen on the Moon often radiate from larger craters, and in such cases are thought to be either caused by secondary impacts of the larger crater's ejecta or by volcanic venting activity along a rift.

Cool!

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