On August 21, a solar eclipse will stretch from Oregon to South Carolina providing a once in a lifetime view.
Many will flock to areas that are located in the “Path of Totality” in order to see a complete two minutes and 30 seconds of darkness.
While this may be a sight to see, NASA scientists are gearing up for an incredible learning experience.
“The fact that it’s happening from Oregon all the way across to South Carolina is giving us this huge path and so from NASA’s perspective this is an opportunity to do observations not just in one spot but in multiple, this will string together observations along this path,” said NASA heliophysics scientist Alex Young. The group hopes that these observations will give us a more detailed look at the Sun and its outer atmosphere for now and for many years to come.
So why is NASA interested in studying the Sun during the eclipse?
It can impact us right here at home.
During the solar eclipse, the Corona or the outside region of the Suns atmosphere will be exposed.
This is a region where all of the “action” happens and that tends to impact us right here on earth.
The Sun constantly throws off huge amounts of energy called solar flares and large amounts of solar material that can create a harsh environment for astronauts in space.
That can interfere with technology, GPS systems, communication signals for ships and airplanes. In the worst case scenario, flares and bits of solar material can impact our power grids.
The same way we study hurricanes and tornadoes, NASA wants to study this region of the Sun to see the global impacts and to eventually be able to predict disruptive and harmful space weather as technology evolves.
“Just 10 to 15 years ago we didn’t have the kind of technology that we have today”, said Young “So we’re constantly learning what the impacts of space weather can be and as we become more sophisticated and develop better technology to make our lives better, we’re actually becoming more susceptible to the things the Sun is throwing off.”
