Did You Know the August Total Solar Eclipse Will Give Scientists a Rare Chance to Study Sun’s Corona?

Did you know French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered the element helium when he detected a yellow emission line during a solar eclipse in 1868!

Scientists are taking this opportunity to study the sun again. The next time an eclipse will provide this perfect of conditions again won't be until 2024.


"On Aug. 21, as millions of Americans prepare to watch a total solar eclipse from the ground — wearing their safety spectacles, natch — a small team of scientists will hop aboard a Gulfstream V jet in Tennessee. Time will be short. The plane, a research aircraft owned by the National Science Foundation, will race to intercept the path of the moon's shadow and follow it as long as it can. The astrophysicists, once they're above southern Kentucky, should have a four-minute window to record the ghost of the missing sun...." READ THE FULL ARTICLE