Total solar eclipses look very eerie from space

A total solar eclipse is going to cast a shadow over the western world today, Tuesday March 8, starting at 6:19 p.m. ET. (You can watch the event live here.)

Astronauts and cosmonauts in space typically have incredible, obstruction-free views of this astronomical phenomenon - just look at the photo above, taken over Britain in 1999.

Unfortunately, the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) right now won't see today's rare eclipse.

Tech Insider reached out to the Johnson Space Center, which manages the American astronauts aboard the ISS. The operations team alerted the crew about the event, but the station's orbit puts it on the wrong side of the Earth to see anything.

Astronauts who are in the right place at the right time get a unique "zoomed out" view of the umbra, or shadow of the moon on the Earth's surface, like this view from the total eclipse that occurred over Turkey in 2006:

The reason astronauts will miss out this year is because of power. The ISS runs on solar energy, so it follows a wavy path (a sinusoidal orbit) around the Earth, oscillating between the poles as it orbits. This allows its solar panels to take in as much sunlight as possible.

That path also means it's not always in the best spot for great views of a total solar eclipse.

You can follow the orbit of the ISS around the Earth in real time using the ISS Tracker site.

And today you can watch live video of the eclipse starting around 6 p.m. ET, via webcasts from Slooh and NASA.

NOW WATCH: This 60-second animation reveals who will see tomorrow's rare total solar eclipse

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