NASA planes that will fly in complete DARKNESS to study the solar eclipse in a mission that could lead to scientific advances

As Monday’s eclipse moves with the sun from Greenland, over Canada, across the U.S. and toward Mexico, two specialized NASA planes will follow its trail.

Four scientists aboard two of NASA’s three WB-57 research planes will cruise at 460 miles per hour in the stratosphere collecting data about the solar corona, the celestial body’s upper atmosphere, unusually visible as a halo during the event.

The high-altitude WB-57s will chase the eclipse from an altitude of 50,000 feet above sea level, recording data on how the sun impacts our ionosphere, how the sun’s own atmosphere works, and incredibly searching for long-theorized ‘vulcanoid’ asteroids. time.

Asteroids are believed to orbit between the Sun and Mercury, drowned out by astronomical observations by the sun’s persistent burst of illuminating cosmic rays.

The high-altitude WB-57s will chase the eclipse from an altitude of 50,000 feet above sea level, recording data on how the sun impacts our ionosphere, how the sun’s own atmosphere works, but also searching for long-theorized ‘vulcanoid’ asteroids. a long time.

“These could become the best observations ever made of high-frequency phenomena in the corona,” said the astrophysicist Dan SeatonNASA project co-investigator and solar researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“Extending the observation time and going to a very high altitude could allow us to see some events or track waves that would be essentially invisible in just two minutes of observations from the ground.”

The trajectories of the two jets will allow them to witness the complete superposition, or ‘totality’ of the eclipse for 25 percent longer than the longest ground observation possible today, which will be a ‘totality’ of 4 minutes and 27 seconds visible in Torreón. , Mexico.

Team WB-57 will be able to view the eclipse in its entirety for approximately 6 minutes and 22 seconds, and with a perfect view above the entire cloud layer.

NASA sensor equipment operator Mallory Yates, who will be aboard one of the WB-57 planes, will operate the US space agency’s with a small keyboard and a small mouse while her co-pilot follows the eclipse during those six minutes of total darkness.

“I’m going to have one of the best seats in the house,” Yates said. bbc news. “So, I’m excited to see the eclipse and hopefully steal some glances while we do the mission.”