United States – A total solar eclipse will occur on April 8 across North America, with the path starting in Mexico and curving to pass through Texas and then briefly entering Canada before ending in Maine.
A total solar eclipse occurs approximately every 18 months somewhere on Earth.
An international team of scientists, led by Aberystwyth University, will conduct experiments near Dallas, at a location within the path of the total eclipse.
The experiments may shed light on a long-standing mystery related to the outer part of the sun’s atmosphere, the “corona.”
The Sun’s faint corona can be observed most clearly during a total solar eclipse, as the Moon blocks the intense sunlight.
Measuring the corona is very difficult without an eclipse, and requires a special telescope called a coronagraph designed to block direct light from the sun, allowing the faint light emanating from the corona to be explored.
The experiments may solve the ongoing mystery of why the “corona” is hotter than the photosphere (the visible surface of the Sun), especially since when moving away from a hot body, the ambient temperature should decrease, not rise.
Scientists will use the Cip imaging instrument (Coronal Imaging Polarimeter), which will allow measuring the basic properties of the corona, such as its density. Phenomena such as the solar wind, a stream of subatomic particles in the form of plasma constantly flowing outward from the Sun, will also be highlighted.
Solar eclipse data may allow direct measurements of the magnetic field in the sun’s atmosphere. In addition to being able to see how far magnetic structures called large magnetic rings extend from the Sun, this will provide information regarding large-scale magnetic conditions in the corona.
This year’s eclipse also occurs during a period of increased solar activity, so a coronal mass ejection (CME) can be observed. That is, huge clouds of magnetized plasma emerging from the sun’s atmosphere into space. It can affect infrastructure near Earth, causing problems for vital satellites.
The report is by Hugh Morgan, Reader in Physical Sciences, from Aberystwyth University.
Source: ScienceAlert
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2024-03-30 19:39:35
