Solar eclipses inspire awe and bring people together to observe amazing celestial phenomena, but these cosmic events also allow scientists to unravel the mysteries of our solar system.
The total solar eclipse on April 8, when the moon will temporarily obscure the sun’s face from view for millions of people in Mexico, the United States and Canada, will raise some of the biggest unanswered questions about gold. Multiple experiments are underway to better understand the Orb.
NASA plans to launch a sounding rocket and a WB-57 high-altitude plane to study aspects of the Sun and Earth that are only possible during a solar eclipse. The effort is part of a long history of attempts to gather valuable data and observations when the moon temporarily blocks sunlight.
According to NASA, perhaps one of the most famous scientific milestones associated with solar eclipses occurred on May 29, 1919, when a total solar eclipse provided evidence for Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and scientists was the first to systematically describe the general theory of relativity in 1916, NASA announced.
Einstein suggested that gravity is the result of distortions in time and space, distorting the very fabric of the universe. As an example, Einstein suggested that the gravitational influence of a large object like the Sun can essentially deflect the light emitted by another object, such as a star, behind it, making that object appear slightly farther away when viewed from Earth. I suggested that there is. A scientific expedition led by British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington to observe stars in Brazil and West Africa during a solar eclipse in 1919 revealed that some stars actually appeared to be in the wrong place. and verified Einstein’s theory.
This discovery is just one of many scientific lessons learned about solar eclipses.
During the 2017 solar eclipse that crossed the United States, NASA and other space agencies conducted observations using 11 different spacecraft and two high-altitude planes.
Data collected during this eclipse helped scientists accurately predict what the corona, or the sun’s hot outside air, would look like during the 2019 and 2021 eclipses. Despite its scorching temperature, the corona is darker in appearance than the sun’s bright surface, but during a solar eclipse, when most of the sun’s light is blocked by the moon, it appears like a halo around the sun. Research becomes easier.
Why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the sun’s actual surface is one of the eternal mysteries about our star. A 2021 study revealed some new clues that the corona maintains a constant temperature despite the sun’s 11-year cycle of waxing and waning activity. NASA said the discovery was made possible thanks to more than a decade of observing solar eclipses.
Previous solar eclipses have been quiet, but this year the sun is at a peak of activity called solar maximum, providing scientists with a rare opportunity.
And during the April 8 solar eclipse, citizen scientists and research teams may make new discoveries that could advance our understanding of this corner of the universe.
send a rocket into a solar eclipse
Observing the Sun during a solar eclipse also helps scientists better understand how solar material flows from the Sun. Charged particles, known as plasma, create space weather when they interact with the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This region acts as the boundary between Earth’s lower atmosphere and space.
The high solar activity emitted by the Sun during solar maximum can interfere with the International Space Station and communications infrastructure. Because many low-Earth orbit satellites and radio waves operate in the ionosphere, dynamic space weather affects GPS and long-range radio communications.
Experiments to study the ionosphere during a solar eclipse include high-altitude balloon experiments and citizen science efforts that involve amateur radio operators. Operators at different locations will record the strength of the signal and the distance it traveled during the eclipse to see how changes in the ionosphere affect the signal. The researchers also conducted this experiment during an annular solar eclipse in October 2023, when the moon did not completely block the sun’s light, and the data is still being analyzed.
Each of NASA’s high-altitude WB-57 research aircraft is flown by a single pilot, with an instrument specialist in the back seat. (Bill Stafford/NASA via CNN News Source)
Bill Stafford/NASA (via CNN News Source)In another iteration, three sounding rockets took off in succession from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia before, during, and after a solar eclipse to examine how the sudden loss of sunlight affects Earth’s upper atmosphere. Measure whether it has a positive impact.
Aro Barjatia, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, is leading an experiment called “Atmospheric Perturbations Around the Eclipse Path,” which will occur during the October annular sun. It was conducted for the first time during a meal.
Each rocket will launch four soda-bottle-sized scientific instruments into total orbit to measure changes in temperature, particle density, and electric and magnetic fields in the ionosphere about 90 to 500 kilometers above Earth.
“Developing models that help us understand the ionosphere and predict disturbances is critical to ensuring that our increasingly communication-dependent world runs smoothly,” Barjatiya said in a statement. .
The sounding rocket can reach a maximum altitude of 260 miles (420 kilometers) during flight.
During the 2023 annular solar eclipse, instruments aboard the rocket measured sudden and immediate changes in the ionosphere.
“Perturbations that could affect radio communications were observed in the second and third rockets, but not in the first rocket, which was before the peak of the local eclipse,” Barjatiya said. Ta. “We’re very excited to relaunch them during a total solar eclipse and see if the perturbation starts at the same altitude and if its size and magnitude remain the same.”
soar above the clouds
Three different experiments will fly aboard NASA’s high-altitude research aircraft known as WB-57.
The WB-57 can carry approximately 9,000 pounds (4,082 kilograms) of scientific equipment 60,000 to 65,000 feet (18,288 to 19,812 meters) above the Earth’s surface and is the workhorse of NASA’s airborne science program, said NASA Manager Peter.・Rayshock said. his WB-57 High Altitude Research Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston;
The advantage of using the WB-57 is that it allows pilots and equipment operators to fly above the clouds for approximately six and a half hours without refueling in the path of a total solar eclipse that spans Mexico and the United States, providing continuous unobstructed visibility. . The plane’s flight path means the instruments are in the moon’s shadow for a longer period of time than they are on the ground. Rayshock said the four-minute totality time on the ground is similar to the six-minute totality time in an airplane.
One experiment will also focus on the ionosphere using an instrument called an ionosonde. The device works like a radar by transmitting high-frequency radio signals, listening to the echoes that bounce off the ionosphere, and measuring the number of charged particles they contain.
The remaining two experiments will focus on the corona. One project will use cameras and spectrometers to learn more about the temperature and chemical composition of the corona, as well as to obtain data about large bursts of solar material from the Sun known as coronal mass ejections.
Another project, led by Amir Caspi, chief scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, aims to observe solar eclipses from 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) above the Earth’s surface, with the goal of spying on the structure and details of Earth’s interior. The goal is to capture images of Nakashita Corona. The experiment will also use a high-speed, high-resolution camera that can take images in visible and infrared light to look for asteroids orbiting in the sun’s glare.
“In the infrared, we don’t know what we’re actually seeing, and that’s part of the mystery of this unusual observation,” Caspi said. “Each solar eclipse gives us a new opportunity to expand on things by taking what we learned from the previous eclipse and solving new pieces of the puzzle.”
