Observations collected<\/a> during this brief window can help scientists better understand how energy and material move through the corona and away from the Sun, improving our understanding of space weather.\u00a0<\/p>\nAt about 50,000 feet, the WB-57F\u00a0flew above most clouds, dust, and water vapor that can interfere with observations from the ground. The altitude reduced atmospheric interference while also allowing the science instruments to\u00a0observe\u00a0infrared wavelengths that are\u00a0largely absorbed\u00a0lower in Earth\u2019s atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Capturing those observations required careful coordination between scientists and the\u00a0flight crew. Before the mission, teams calculated where the\u00a0aircraft\u00a0needed to be as the Moon\u2019s shadow moved across the North Atlantic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into a mission like this takes a huge team. It starts with the science team\u00a0establishing\u00a0the requirements, and then we work closely with them for months leading up to the mission,\u201d said Tom Parent, NASA WB-57F pilot. \u201cWe rely heavily on our maintenance team to get the instruments serviced, prepared, loaded onto the\u00a0aircraft, and flight tested.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a huge team effort to get\u00a0an aircraft\u00a0like this up there to image and achieve these\u00a0objectives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
During totality, NASA WB-57F pilot John Gustine positioned the\u00a0aircraft\u00a0along the eclipse path to maximize time in the Moon\u2019s shadow and give scientists as much opportunity as possible to collect data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the back seat, Cary Klemm, sensor equipment operator for NASA\u2019s WB-57F, controlled the camera systems, adjusting focus and exposure times while tracking features of interest throughout totality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the cameras capturing observations throughout the brief window, every second mattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery\u00a0image is another piece of data that could reveal something new about the Sun,\u201d Klemm said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What scientists can learn from those observations reaches far beyond the eclipse itself. The Sun\u2019s corona is made of plasma shaped by magnetic fields, and many of the same physical processes occur elsewhere in the universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NASA WB-57F\u2019s unique capabilities of high-altitude flight were truly crucial in providing access to these valuable wavelengths during an eclipse whose path crossed mostly over the ocean in an area where clouds are common,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Amir Caspi, principal investigator for the study at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. \u201cWe could not have achieved this success without this platform, and\u00a0all of\u00a0the efforts of the many intrepid ground, air, and science crew members.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data gathered during the flight will give scientists another opportunity to investigate the Sun and the processes that influence the space environment around Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
View images and videos<\/a>\u00a0from NASA\u2019s eclipse mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse\u00a0over\u00a0Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the Sun\u2019s outer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[247931,13726,90,214189,416,56,54,55,148430],"class_list":["post-750704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ellington-field","tag-johnson-space-center","tag-science","tag-solar-eclipses","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wb-57"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}