A total solar eclipse will darken different regions of Mexico, Canada and the United States. During daylight, the massive star will be blocked by the Moon, in one of the most exciting space events ever seen with the naked eye.
But this phenomenon will not only be a spectacle for the populations of the three countries mentioned, the solar eclipse is an ideal moment for scientists from the POT Take advantage and carry out experiments that will try to decipher some of the many mysteries that the cosmos has.
This solar eclipse will be around 4:00 in the afternoon in Aztec territory. Anywhere along the eclipse path, totality will last less than four and a half minutes. The shadow of the Moon will take 90 minutes to cross from Canada to Mexico.
Just in the minutes before the conjunction occurs, NASA will take the opportunity to launch rockets, probes and planes into the sky, with the intention of taking a closer look at the events that will unfold during the stellar event.
NASA and the eclipse
The most important of the studies will be carried out with the WB-57 aircraft, which reaches high altitude. The idea is to reach the upper part of the atmosphere to make a faithful record of the Sun's corona, which at that moment will be the only thing visible, since the Moon will be covering the center and leaving only the edges.
The portal Xataka reports that NASA wants to look specifically at the middle and lower corona. The plane carries a spectroscope, cameras and infrared instruments. The timing couldn't be more perfect, as the eclipse occurs at what they call the peak of solar cycle activity.
Three sounding rockets
NASA reports that it will launch three sounding rockets before, during and after the conjunction in succession. According to review Cnn in Spanish They will do so to study the ionosphere and the way in which particles from the Sun influence spacecraft traveling into space.
During eclipses, stardust becomes more detectable and this is an ideal time to record new data on measuring instruments.