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Total solar eclipse. PHOTO/ ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE
JAKARTA – On April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America. This event occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth.
This solar eclipse phenomenon completely covers the face of the Sun and envelops the observer in darkness like dawn or dusk.
The path of totality, where observers experience the darkest part of the Moon's shadow (umbra), will cross Mexico, Texas, the Midwest, and briefly enter Canada before ending in Maine. Total solar eclipses like this occur approximately every 18 months in various locations on Earth. The last total solar eclipse in the US occurred on August 21, 2017.
An international team of scientists led by Aberystwyth University will conduct experiments near Dallas, directly in the path of totality.
The team consists of PhD students and researchers from Aberystwyth University, Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and Caltech (California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena.
This experiment takes advantage of the moment of the eclipse to study the Sun in a unique and valuable way, even compared to space-based missions.
This research is expected to reveal a long-standing puzzle about the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, namely its crown.
The Sun's crown is the very hot outer part of the Sun's atmosphere, much hotter than the surface of the Sun.
However, scientists do not yet fully understand how this heat is generated. Experiments during a total solar eclipse can provide important data to help answer this question.