Solar eclipses are incredible events that only take place about once every 18 months. When they occur, they attract millions of tourists who want to take part in the natural brilliance and the excitement of experiencing it with other people.
While there is no doubt that solar eclipses can be enjoyed by everyone, they are especially important to scientists. It is only during these times that things like the solar corona can be properly analyzed. In fact, it was during a solar eclipse in 1724 that the solar corona was even discovered.
The problem is that in addition to only occurring rarely, they also rely on a variety of factors in order to be useful to scientists. For one, the eclipse has to be visible from a part of the Earth where the scientist can conduct their experiments. On top of that, the eclipse needs to occur at a time when it is visible, which means few clouds or other obstructions.
So, rather than waiting for everything to line up perfectly for scientists to study a solar eclipse, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided they would use satellites to make an artificial eclipse.
Don’t worry, they aren’t going to block the sun and cast a shadow over the Earth like a supervillain.
Instead, they have launched the Proba-3 satellite into orbit. This system, once in place, will consist of two sections that are about 150 meters (500 feet) apart. The satellite closer to the sun, called the Occulter) will have a 1.4 meter wide disk on it, which was designed to perfectly block the sun’s light. The one further away, called the Coronagraph, is positioned and ready to go with a variety of instruments needed to study the corona.
What do the scientists hope to learn? Quite a bit actually. The ESA has published a list of five mysteries that they hope to solve with this satellite, and if this mission goes like many others have, they will actually learn a lot more than they had ever hoped. The five mysteries are:
- Why is the solar corona so much hotter than the sun itself?
- What accelerates the solar wind?
- How long does the Sun fling out material in coronal mass ejections?
- How do electrons trapped in Earth’s radiation belts behave?
- How much does the Sun’s energy output change over time?
While the Proba-3 system is already in space, it will take a while for it to get positioned where it needs to be. They want this system to be far away from Earth that our magnetic field and other interference won’t effect the results of the experiments. In addition, they will need to run tests and collaboration routines to make sure everything is functioning the way they want before they start with the real work, which could take years.
Creating an artificial solar eclipse sounds incredible.
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