Total Solar Eclipse - Apr 8, 2024

 

Solar Orbiter helps predict the total solar eclipse.

The wispy ring around the Sun during a total solar eclipse is its corona. Solar Orbiter data collected next week will also be used to predict the corona's shape during the upcoming eclipse.

Researchers from Predictive Science Inc. use data from telescopes on and around Earth to create a 3D model of the solar corona. In advance of every total solar eclipse, they use this data to predict what the Sun’s corona will look like from Earth.

For the first time, Predictive Science will incorporate data from Solar Orbiter’s Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument. This will allow them to add information on the Sun’s magnetic field from a unique vantage point to improve their prediction.

The prediction is already available It will evolve in real-time as we approach the eclipse and Solar Orbiter data is added.

Don’t do a Galileo – use eye protection!

The total solar eclipse will cross North America on 8 April 2024 starting around 11:07 local time. Total solar eclipses are rare opportunities to see the Sun’s beautiful outer atmosphere, normally outshone by the brilliant surface. But great care must be taken to wear appropriate eclipse sunglasses in order to avoid eye damage.