Astronomers no longer have to wait for a total solar eclipse before they can make meaningful observations of the Sun's corona. Earth- and satellite-based coronagraphs make such observations routine. But as Jay Pasachoff explains in a Review, a new generation of eclipse studies is linking solar observations from satellites with ground-based observations in spatial, time and spectral-resolution domains that are inaccessible from space. Eventually, as space-based solar telescopes proliferate, they may take over completely from Earth-bound observation. But for the next 600 million years or so - until the Moon's distance from the Sun increases such that its disk becomes too small to block out the sunlight - the solar eclipse will remain one of the best shows on Earth.
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