Eclipse chasers: Why NASA jets will pursue solar totality

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Eclipse chasers: Why NASA jets will pursue solar totality
EclipsesThe SunSolar Eclipse 2024
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During the total solar eclipse on 8 April, two of NASA's WB-57 jet planes, equipped with special instruments, will chase totality and give new insight into the sun's corona

. Expectations are sky high for this total solar eclipse because totality – when the sun is entirely covered – will last up to 4 minutes and 27 seconds – the longest such period on land for over a decade. To capture this rare event, two of NASA’s WB-57 jet planes, equipped with special instruments, will follow each other at 740 kilometres per hour, about a quarter of the speed of the moon’s shadow, just south-west of the maximum point of the eclipse.

At that speed, totality increases from the 4 minutes 27 seconds for those viewing it from the ground to over 6 minutes.at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, is in charge of an onboatd experiment to study the corona using a stabilised platform to capture images of the eclipse using both a visible-light camera and a higher-resolution mid-infrared camera developed by NASA.

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