On August 12, when the Moon covers the Sun, teams of specialists will begin studying its magnetic field, atmosphere, and powerful phenomena that sometimes disrupt human activities on Earth.
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Solar eclipses have long been used for scientific discoveries.
It was by observing the eclipse on May 29, 1919, on Principe Island in West Africa, that British astronomer Arthur Eddington confirmed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
He achieved this by observing the bending of light rays, called gravitational lensing – when the dazzling sunlight was blocked, other stars became more visible from Earth.
More than a century later, scientists will next week observe a total solar eclipse lasting one minute and 40 seconds, moving across northern Spain.
“Our work aims to understand the physical mechanisms driving solar activity,” French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) astrophysicist Allan Sacha Brunas told the AFP news agency.
Specialists create daily models to help explain solar activity, which allow “placing the Sun back into its evolutionary context – from its birth to its death,” he added.
“We are incredibly lucky”
The Sun constantly emits matter and charged particles, sometimes causing strong solar storms that release huge bursts of plasma and other materials.
When this material hits Earth’s magnetic shield, satellites can malfunction, astronauts are at risk, and colorful auroras light up the skies in northern and southern latitudes.
“These phenomena occur in a regular cycle, peaking every 11 years,” said A. S. Brunas.
“In 2024, the Sun reached the peak of its 25th cycle,” he said.
Next week, CEA scientists will focus mainly on the solar corona – the outer layer of its atmosphere.
“We are incredibly lucky: the Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it is also 400 times closer to us,” said A. S. Brunas.
Because of this coincidence, the Moon sometimes completely blocks the Sun’s light, but scientists can still see the processes occurring in its atmosphere.
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The solar corona extends 10 million kilometers, and its intensity is a million times weaker than the photosphere – the Sun’s surface. However, the corona’s temperature can still reach up to 2 million degrees Celsius.
Under normal circumstances, when there are no eclipses, scientists study the Sun’s atmosphere with satellites equipped with a coronagraph – “a filter that blocks the photosphere,” explained A. S. Brunas.
But a total eclipse provides a rare opportunity to see the chromosphere – the atmospheric layer between the corona and the surface.
“An inspiring phenomenon”
Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) will analyze next week’s eclipse hoping to learn more about solar winds.
“Why do solar storms spread the way they do? What is their structure, and can we create models to predict them?” asked ESA science director Carole Mundell.
Launched in 2020, the ESA probe Solar Orbiter collects data about the Sun’s atmosphere and wind.
Eclipses are an opportunity “to check how accurate our models are – or how much they are wrong,” said mission co-author Miho Janvier.
Another ESA mission, called Proba-3, currently uses three spacecraft flying simultaneously that replicate solar eclipses on a smaller scale.
There is also a planned mission called MESOM, which aims to send a spacecraft into the Moon’s shadow to observe this phenomenon for a longer time.
London University College solar physicist Lucie Green, working on this mission, told AFP that a total solar eclipse is “inspiring for both artists and scientists.”
“What we see on Earth inspires us in conducting space scientific research,” she added.
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