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Full solar eclipse. ERIK S. LESSER/EPA-EFE

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Full solar eclipse

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/171254235467220240408020448_11816450.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Full solar eclipse. ERIK S. LESSER/EPA-EFE"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Full solar eclipse. ERIK S. LESSER/EPA-EFE </span></span></span></div><p>WASHINGTON - When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on Monday, scientists will be able to gather invaluable data on everything from the Sun&#x27;s atmosphere to strange animal behaviors -- and even possible effects on humans.</p><p>It comes with the Sun near the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, setting the stage for a breathtaking display: The corona will glow spectacularly from the Moon&#x27;s silhouette along the path of totality, a corridor stretching from Mexico to Canada via the United States.</p><p>Total solar eclipses offer &quot;incredible scientific opportunities,&quot; NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy told a press conference this week about the celestial event.</p><p>The US space agency is one of the institutions at the ready for the eclipse, with plans to launch so-called &quot;sounding rockets&quot; to study the effects on Earth&#x27;s upper atmosphere.</p><p>Here is a look at what researchers are hoping to learn from the upcoming eclipse:</p><div><strong>SUN&#x27;S ATMOSPHERE</strong></div><p>When the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun and blocks it, the elusive outermost edge of the Sun&#x27;s atmosphere, or corona, will be visible &quot;in a very special way,&quot; Melroy said.</p><div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="3004632"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script></div><p>The heat within the corona intensifies with distance from the Sun&#x27;s surface -- a counterintuitive phenomenon that scientists struggle to fully comprehend or explain.</p><p>Solar flares, a sudden explosion of energy that releases radiation into space, take place in the corona as do solar prominences, enormous plasma formations that loop out from the Sun&#x27;s surface.</p><p>During an eclipse, the bottom most part of the corona -- where a lot of this activity occurs -- is more clearly visible than when using specialized instruments to block the central part of the Sun, offering a golden opportunity for study, said Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.</p><p>Researchers are particularly thrilled about the Sun being near the peak of its 11-year cycle.</p><p>&quot;The chance we&#x27;re going to see something amazing is very high,&quot; Melroy said.</p><div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="2968734"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script></div><div><strong>EARTH&#x27;S ATMOSPHERE</strong></div><p>The total eclipse also will afford scientists a chance to study changes in part of the Earth&#x27;s upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere, important because it affects radio waves used for communication and navigation.</p><p>&quot;Disturbances in this layer can cause issues with GPS and communications,&quot; said Kelly Korreck, the eclipse program manager at NASA headquarters.</p><p>The ionosphere, which is where Earth&#x27;s atmosphere meets space, is affected by the Sun, which electrically charges the particles there during the day.</p><p>NASA&#x27;s three sounding rockets will be launched before, during and just after the eclipse from Virginia to measure these changes.</p><p>The major decrease in sunlight provoked by the eclipse -- more rapid and localized than a simple sunset -- should allow researchers to learn more about how light affects the ionosphere so they can better predict potential problematic disruptions.</p><div><strong>ANIMAL BEHAVIORS</strong></div><p>Startling animal behavior has been noted during eclipses: Giraffes have been seen galloping, while roosters and crickets can start crowing and chirping.</p><p>Beyond the drop in sunlight, temperatures and wind -- conditions to which animals are sensitive -- can also decrease significantly during an eclipse.</p><p>Andrew Farnsworth, a researcher in ornithology at Cornell University in New York state, studies how eclipses affect birds, using weather surveillance radar to detect birds in flight.</p><p>During the last total solar eclipse visible from the United States in August 2017, scientists observed a &quot;decline in the number of animals flying around,&quot; Farnsworth told reporters.</p><p>The 2017 eclipse disrupted the daily activities of insects and birds, but did not trigger usual animal nocturnal behaviors such as birds migrating or bats emerging, the expert said.</p><p>This time around, birds might be more apt to migrate during the eclipse, given that it&#x27;s in April, he said.</p><p>&quot;These kinds of patterns -- they&#x27;re important for understanding the ways animals perceive their worlds,&quot; Farnsworth said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/2024/4/8/why-unprotected-eclipse-gazing-will-leave-you-seeing-stars-919" id="isPasted">Why unprotected eclipse gazing will leave you seeing stars</a></div><div><strong>HUMAN WONDER</strong></div><p>&quot;Eclipses have a special power. They move people to feel a kind of reverence for the beauty of our universe,&quot; NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters.</p><p>Researchers studied this feeling of awe in 2017, using data from nearly three million users of Twitter, now called X.</p><p>Those in the so-called &quot;path of totality,&quot; under which the Moon will fully block out the Sun, tended to use the pronoun &quot;we&quot; (as opposed to &quot;I&quot;) and express concern about other people, according to Paul Piff, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine.</p><p>&quot;What we&#x27;re finding is that experiences that bring about awe... seem to attune people and connect us to one another, to connect us to entities that are larger than ourselves,&quot; Piff said.</p><p>This year, he plans to study if the experience has any effect on political divisions in society.</p><div><strong>CITIZEN SCIENTISTS</strong></div><p>About 40 citizen science projects are planned around the eclipse, from using a phone app to register the temperature and cloud cover to recording ambient noise during the event.</p><p>&quot;We encourage you to help NASA observe the sights and sounds around you,&quot; Nelson said.</p><p>la/sst/bfm/md</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on Monday, scientists will be able to gather invaluable data on everything from the Sun's atmosphere to strange animal behaviors -- and even possible effects on humans.</p>

When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on Monday, scientists will be able to gather invaluable data on everything from the Sun's atmosphere to strange animal behaviors -- and even possible effects on humans.

What do scientists hope to learn from total solar eclipse in US?

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What do scientists hope to learn from total solar eclipse in US?

Agence France-Presse

Published Apr 08, 2024 10:14 AM PHT

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