DSCOVR films a different view of the total solar eclipse
The satellite followed the moon's shadow as it made its way across the planet.
The DSCOVR satellite used its location between the sun and the Earth to its advantage to capture the total solar eclipse from a different perspective. While people were taking photos of the sun being consumed by the moon in the sky a few days ago, DSCOVR was filming the moon's shadow moving across the planet. NASA's four-megapixel Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the satellite took a full-resolution image every 20 minutes during the event. It ended up capturing 13 photos spanning the eclipse's entire duration. Adam Szabo, one of the scientists in charge of the satellite, said he's "not aware of anybody ever capturing the full eclipse in one set of images or video" before.
DSCOVR is stationed a million miles away, much, much farther than the ISS and most satellites. Since it was deployed to monitor solar winds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it stays in the space between the Earth and the sun. DSCOVR regularly captures interesting photos of our planet due to its unique position. Back in 2015, it also followed the moon's journey across the Pacific Ocean, showing the dark side of its surface we never see from the ground.