The 12 August 2026 eclipse from a plane

During the 12 August 2026 solar eclipse, an Irish Air Corps C295 flew west over the Atlantic to capture totality.

Built using components produced for the Proba-3 ASPIICS instrument, the Eclipse Coronal Magnetograph, or E-CorMag, was designed to measure the magnetic field of the solar corona.

High above the clouds over the Atlantic Ocean, 540 km west of Ireland, E-CorMag was aimed at the total eclipse, and collected data from the coronal magnetic field through its polarisation, the direction in which the light waves vibrate.

By comparing this data with measurements from ESA's Proba-3 and Solar Orbiter missions, we can build a more complete view of the solar corona, and its relationship with the Sun's magnetic field.

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[Image description: A total solar eclipse seen from a plane. The plane's wing covers the top right of the image. The horizon is visible towards the bottom of the image. Towards the top of the image is the Sun, with the Moon just about seen as a black dot right in the middle.]