On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will darken parts of North America as the Moon blocks the Sun’s light for several minutes. Also, this total solar eclipse casts a fascinating, fleeting shadow over the heads of millions of people. The eclipse offers scientists a unique opportunity to study the Sun, Earth and their interactions.

To make the most of this opportunity, NASA will fund five interdisciplinary science projects for the 2024 eclipse. Led by researchers from various academic institutions, the projects will study the Sun and its effects on Earth using a variety of instruments, including cameras on high-altitude research aircraft, radio amateurs, and more. Two of the projects also encourage the participation of social scientists.

“Seven years after the last solar eclipse in the US, we are pleased to announce the selection of five new projects to study the 2024 eclipse,” said Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Washington. “We’re excited to see what these new experiments reveal about our Sun and its impact on Earth.”

During total solar eclipses, the Moon perfectly covers the Sun’s face, providing a clear view of the Sun’s thin outer atmosphere, called the corona.

“Scientists have long used solar eclipses to make scientific discoveries,” said Kelly Korrek, a program scientist at NASA Headquarters. “They helped us discover helium for the first time, gave us evidence of general relativity, and gave us a better understanding of the Sun’s effect on Earth’s upper atmosphere.”

Tracking the eclipse with NASA’s high-altitude research plane

A project using NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft will capture images of the eclipse from 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. By taking these images from much of Earth’s atmosphere, the team hopes to see new details of structures in the middle and lower parts of the corona. Observations made by the camera, which takes high-resolution and high-speed photos in infrared and visible light, can also help examine the dust ring around the Sun and find asteroids that may be orbiting the Sun. Led by Amir Caspi of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, the project builds on the successful 2017 Caspi project with a new set of cameras.

Aerial images and spectroscopic observations of the corona

NASA’s WB-57s will also run cameras and spectrometers (which study the composition of light) to learn more about the temperature and chemistry of corona and coronal mass ejections or large bursts of solar material. They also hope to extend their time in the lunar shadow by more than two minutes by flying along the path of the eclipse. The team hopes that these observations will provide new insights into structures in the corona and the sources of the solar wind, the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun. The team is led by Shadia Habbal of the University of Hawaii.

“Listening party” for radio amateurs

At the top of our atmosphere, the Sun’s energy blasts electrons from atoms, making the region electrically charged or “ionized.” This region, the ionosphere, can assist radio communications spread over long distances, such as among radio amateurs (or “hobbies”) around the world. However, when the Moon covers the Sun during a solar eclipse, the ionosphere can change dramatically, affecting these communications.

During the total solar eclipse in 2024 and the annular solar eclipse this October, Nathaniel Frissell of the University of Scranton invites radio amateurs to join “Solar Eclipse QSO Parties” where they will try to make as many radio communications (“QSOs”) as possible. as possible.” amateur language) as they can with other operators in different locations. Radio operators will record how strong their signals are and how far they travel to observe how the ionosphere changes during eclipses. Similar experiments in the past have shown that changes in the electron content of the ionosphere due to solar eclipses have a significant effect on the propagation of radio waves.

The effect of solar radiation on the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere

The darkest part of this eclipse’s shadow passes through several locations equipped with SuperDARN radars. The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network monitors space weather conditions in Earth’s upper atmosphere, so the eclipse provides a unique opportunity to study the effects of solar radiation on Earth’s upper atmosphere during an eclipse. Led by Bharat Kunduri of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the project will use three SuperDARN radars to study the ionosphere during the eclipse. Kunduri’s team compares the measurements with computer model predictions to answer questions about how the ionosphere responds to an eclipse.

Bringing the Sun’s magnetic “hot spots” into sharper focus

During future eclipses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Thangasamy Velusamy, a faculty member at the Lewis Educational Research Center in Southern California, and members of the center’s Solar Patrol science program will observe solar “hotspots,” which are magnetically complex regions that form above sunspots. The moon moves on them. The Moon’s gradual transit from the Sun blocks different parts of the active region at different times, allowing scientists to distinguish light signals from one part from the other.

The team will use the 34-metre Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) to measure subtle changes in radio emission from active regions during the 2023 annular eclipse and the 2024 total eclipse. First used during the annular eclipses in May 2012, the technique has revealed otherwise undetectable details of the Sun. Source