The Moon casts a shadow like a black spot

This is the view the new crew on the International Space Station (ISS) got of the recent total solar eclipse. The image, taken out of the porthole of the platform by Don Pettit, clearly shows the Moon's dark shadow, or umbra, on the Earth's surface. The photograph was taken mid-eclipse, when the path of totality was out in the Indian Ocean.

Any ships in the more than 60-kilometres-wide (40 miles) path would not have had a very good view of the solar phenomenon: as the picture shows, there was heavy cloud over the region at the time.

The out-of-focus object in the foreground is part of the frame for the viewing port.