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Umbra cast by the solar eclipse of August 21st 2017 cast over the USA captured from space

SOLAR ECLIPSE 360° HYPERLAPSE | BBC EARTH FROM SPACE

Brief

BRIEF

Capture a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse from space for the BBC.

High-altitude perspective of Wyoming mountains

CAMPAIGN

We travelled to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to capture the shadow’s journey across North America. Our craft carried six cameras positioned in a precisely aligned array and synced using a bespoke timing control mechanism to capture a 360° perspective. The flight was precisely timed so the apex of the flight coincided with the moment of totality.

 

The footage captured had to be stitched together manually frame by frame. Now made significantly easier due to advances in camera and video production technology, this then-cutting-edge approach took almost 400 hours in editing to produce the final video.

In addition to the stunning visuals captured of the eclipse, our flight data made a significant contribution to research into stratospheric gravity waves conducted by the Montana Space Grant Consortium.

2017 USA solar eclipse from space with umbra covering half of the ground

RESULTS

  • 3 academic papers and an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

  • 850,000 views on BBC Earth YouTube

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