Camera on Balloon Captures the Total Solar Eclipse from Near Space

Self-proclaimed “armchair aeroscience geek” Liem Bahneman managed to capture the Great American Eclipse from an unusual and amazing perspective: he loaded cameras onto a high-altitude and shot what the total solar eclipse looks like from the edge of space. The 9-minute video above is what one camera recorded over Central Oregon.

Bahneman used a total of four cameras on his near space stratospheric balloon: three still cameras (including a Ricoh Theta 360) and a GoPro shooting video.

He launched the balloon shortly before totality pass over the state. As you’ll see in the video, the cameras were able to capture the shadow of the moon creeping across the land and plunging everything into darkness for minutes during totality. At around 5 and 7 minutes, you can hear the sounds of jets flying over the mountains below.

“This is the edited video, showing launch, the shadow of totality passing, and the last 40 seconds or is the last of the footage before the battery died,” Bahneman writes.

(via Liem Bahneman via DPReview)

Discussion