[ad_1]
Excitement is building ahead of the solar eclipse on April 8, with professional and amateur scientists scheduled to conduct experiments and observations.
Monday 1 April 2024 14:29 UK
Scientists are preparing for next week’s total solar eclipse, but what do they want to know as parts of the Earth temporarily go dark?
NASADeputy director Pam Melroy said it would provide a “completely different” opportunity to study the interactions between the Earth, moon and sun.
America space Government agencies will likely focus much of their research on observing the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona.
Usually the sun is so bright that I can’t see it. solar eclipse The white halo of the corona can be seen poking out from behind the shadows.
The corona is hundreds of times hotter than the surface of the sun and can reach far into space.
This is the source of the solar wind. It is a stream of charged particles that can sometimes destroy the earth’s power grid and affect communication networks.
“In terms of the value of a total solar eclipse, science still cannot explain how the corona heats up to such extreme temperatures,” said former NASA astrophysicist and eclipse expert. One Fred Espenak says:
Scientists will hope to have more data on this mystery and answers to other questions, such as how fast the particles fly into space.
The NASA WB-57 High Altitude Research Vehicle will ascend to an altitude of 50,000 feet (9.5 miles) to conduct a series of experiments.
read more:
Total solar eclipse: Can you see it in the UK? Why is this so special?
One of the aircraft will try to identify new details in the middle and lower part of the corona using a camera that can take pictures in both infrared and visible light.
The space agency says it hopes the photos will also help study the dust ring around the sun and search for asteroids orbiting nearby.
“Dust sounds boring,” said Kelly Kolek, NASA’s eclipse program manager.
“But at the same time, dust is actually very interesting. They’re the debris left over from when the solar system formed.”
Another plane will use a spectrometer to study the light from the corona, and hopefully learn more about its temperature and chemical composition, as well as the particles it emits.
Hundreds of citizen scientists are also expected to be involved in Monday’s solar eclipse.
They will observe whether birds and other wildlife become quieter, temperatures drop as the sun is blocked, and communications are affected.
Hundreds of weather balloons will also be released by American university students to monitor changes in the atmosphere.
The eclipse will last about four and a half minutes, and more than 30 million people in the United States, Mexico and Canada will experience darkness in its path.
In some areas, large numbers of people are expected to gather to watch this spectacle.
Canada’s Niagra region, near the famous falls, declared a state of emergency after predictions that a million people could gather there.
[ad_2]
Source link
