A NASA probe saw a double eclipse of the sun from space

A spacecraft tasked with keeping a robotic eye on the sun caught sight of a double eclipse of our closest star last week.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured a high-definition video of the Earth and moon blocking the light of the sun at the same time on Sept. 1.

In the footage, Earth passes in front of the sun first, with the moon following shortly afterward.

"The end of the Earth eclipse happened just in time for SDO to catch the final stages of the lunar transit," NASA said in a statement.

"In the SDO data, you can tell Earth and the moon’s shadows apart by their edges: Earth’s is fuzzy, while the moon’s is sharp and distinct."

The Earth's diffuse edge is due to the planet's atmosphere, making its margins somewhat blurry during this kind of event, NASA said. The moon, on the other hand, has a defined edge because it lacks an atmosphere.

This eclipse could also be seen on the ground from parts of the African continent.

"The eclipse was what's known as a ring of fire, or annular, eclipse, which is similar to a total solar eclipse, except it happens when the moon is at a point in its orbit farther from Earth than average," NASA added.

That added distance makes the moon look smaller from Earth, meaning that it doesn't blot out the full face of the sun, leaving a "ring of fire" around the star from our perspective.