Roscosmos satellite captures Earth from 35,000 km during solar eclipse

Roscosmos has released a photograph of Earth taken during the solar eclipse on August 12. The image was captured by the Elektro-L weather satellite from a distance of more than 35,000 kilometers, at the moment when the lunar disk moved across the Sun. The photo was shared on the state corporation's official Telegram channel.

The eclipse lasted from 18:34 to 22:58 Moscow time. Its maximum phase reached 1.019, meaning the Moon completely covered the Sun's disk. However, the full phase was visible only near Iceland, and in Russia — from the eastern shore of the Taimyr Peninsula. The peak occurred at 20:46 Moscow time and lasted 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

In Moscow, the Sun was obscured by just 1%, while in St. Petersburg the coverage reached 83%. Roscosmos organized a live broadcast from the city together with Yandex Weather, using the Lakhta Center — the tallest building in Russia and Europe — as the observation point. The satellite photo offers a rare view of the planet during the celestial event, complementing the ground-based observations.