On 12 August 2026, parts of Europe experienced a total solar eclipse. Hours earlier, according to ESA, the two spacecraft of its Proba-3 mission created an artificial eclipse for the 65th time, without the Moon's help.

The Sun's inner corona appears greenish in an image taken that morning by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. ESA says the image shows the corona as ground observers would see it hours later through a green filter. About 60 000 km above Earth, the pair aligns 150 metres apart: the Occulter spacecraft acts as an artificial Moon, eclipsing the Sun for the Coronagraph spacecraft, which then has an uninterrupted view of the corona for hours at a time.

ESA reports that shortly after the image was taken, the Moon crossed Proba-3's field of view, creating a double eclipse. About two weeks earlier the mission had observed the Sun from the other side; because the Sun takes two weeks to rotate halfway around its axis, ESA describes that earlier coronagraphy image as a fairly accurate prediction of the 12 August views, both for the mission and for observers on the ground.