The Sun’s outer atmosphere—the corona—only reveals itself during total solar eclipses, which happen about every 18 months on Earth, and are only visible along a narrow path. These events offer scientists a rare opportunity to observe the Sun’s violent surface—but now, they won’t have to wait on the cosmos to do so.

A pair of European satellites have created the first artificial solar eclipses through precise and fancy formation flying.

The Proba-3 mission, consisting of two spacecraft that fly in close formation to study the sun, has returned images of the first ever artificial solar eclipse