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More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science
Clinton Lewis from New Harmony, IN/Western Kentucky University
Thank you for helping us out! Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse. Together, these volunteers submitted more than 60,000 vital pieces of eclipse data to NASA science projects.
More than 30,000 volunteers with the SunSketcher project pointed their smartphones toward the Sun and recorded pictures of Bailey’s beads, flashes of Sunlight coming through valleys on the moon. These pictures will reveal the size and shape of the Sun to high precision.
Volunteers with GLOBE Observer (GO) submitted more than 35,000 data points to the GO Eclipse, GO Clouds, and GO Landcover projects, taking eclipse data using their cell phones and sometimes thermometers. These data show the effect of the eclipse on our atmosphere.
Many more volunteers used specialized gear—DSLR cameras, telescopes, audiomoth recorders, and Ham Radio sets—taking data for the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast Initiative, the Eclipse Megamovie project, Citizen CATE 2024, Eclipse Soundscapes, and the HamSCI project. These data will trace plumes and ejections of matter in the solar corona, track waves in the ionosphere, and reveal how animals, birds and insects reacted to the eclipse.
“I’m fascinated by the idea that the eclipse can affect the behavior of animals!” said one Eclipse Soundscapes volunteer. “I hope you all get a good data set and am still very excited to see the results! It was awesome!” said a SunSketcher volunteer.
Science is a methodical process and sometimes a slow process. Data are still arriving from cell phones and computers around the country. It will probably take months or even years for scientists to check and analyze the data, compare it with data on previous eclipses, and publish it in the refereed scientific literature.
But stay tuned as the Heliophysics Big Year continues! There will probably be some beautiful pictures coming out in the days and weeks to come thanks to your efforts.
Facebook logo @DoNASAScience @DoNASAScience Share Details Last Updated Apr 10, 2024 Related TermsA Langley Intern Traveled 1,340 Miles to View a Total Solar Eclipse. Here’s What She Saw.
Emma Friedman, an Office of Communications intern at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, understood that the total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024, was an out-of-this-world opportunity she couldn’t miss.
Equipped with the proper eye protection, I traveled over one thousand miles to Dallas, Texas, to be in the eclipse’s path of totality. As I got situated in a park near the city, I was excited—I’d read books and seen photos of what an eclipse looked like and knew what to expect, but I also knew that seeing it in person would be something greater than fiction. Slowly but surely, the Moon took more and more “bites” out of the sun, until I saw the last little peek of light before the darkness; this is known as the “diamond ring effect.”
As she waited for 100% totality during the 2024 total solar eclipse, Emma captured this image of crescent-shaped shadows cast by tree leaves. During an eclipse, light from the Sun passes through small gaps between tree leaves, creating a natural pinhole camera effect; images of the eclipse are then projected onto the surface below.NASA / Emma FriedmanBefore I had time to process any of it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A silence fell across the park—even the birds stopped chirping—and I held my breath. All you could hear was the rustling of branches. What was a warm spring day was now a cold, dark dusk. It felt like the world had flipped on its head—first slowly, and then all at once. What the Sun had just seconds before lit was now a black void. The glow I saw around the Sun was its outer atmosphere, known as the corona. It was a moving sight, but why did I travel so far to experience it? Surely a viewing of a total eclipse was not in need of a plane ride.
It’s actually more complicated than simply waiting for the Moon to drift in front of the Sun. You have to be in the right place at the right time in a region called the “path of totality.”
The total solar eclipse will be visible along a narrow track stretching from Texas to Maine on April 8, 2024. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout all 48 contiguous U.S. states. Want to download this map and view other versions? Visit NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.NASA’s Scientific Visualization StudioAs a Maryland local, seeing a total solar eclipse from my home would be impossible during this eclipse. Despite eclipses being relatively common, it is a bit more challenging to see the Moon totally block out our Sun.
I spoke to Atmospheric Scientist and expert, Marilé Colón Robles, about the so-called “eclipse chasing” people like me took part in.
“Solar eclipses happen every eighteen months or so, so they are pretty common. To see a total solar eclipse is more challenging because a limited amount of the Earth’s surface is in the path of totality at any given time. Because the world is mostly made up of oceans, your chances of seeing a total eclipse from where you live is small. If, by chance, a total eclipse is happening near you, it’s best to travel to it.”
One team from NASA Langley did something similar by traveling to Houlton, Maine, to broadcast the eclipse in the path of totality. The broadcast showcases the moments before, during, and after the total solar eclipse. Another team of researchers from NASA Langley traveled to Fort Drum, N.Y., also located in the path of totality, to study changes in the weather during the total solar eclipse using a specially modified drone flying at 10,000 feet.
You can see my time lapse of the total solar eclipse below. Needless to say, the plane ride was worth it, and I was fortunate to enjoy one of the most cinematic and humbling phenomena that an Earthling can experience.
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Emma captured a time lapse as she observed the 2024 total solar eclipse in Dallas, Texas.April 8th was the last total solar eclipse to cross the U.S. for another 20 years. You can watch NASA’s broadcast of the eclipse here.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a professional astronomer, talks about her own adventures in astrophotography—and offers tips and tricks for new amateur astronomers.
How Much of Venus’s Atmosphere is Coming from Volcanoes?
There’s a lot we don’t know about the planet nearest to us. Venus is shrouded in clouds, making speculation about what’s happening on its surface a parlor game for many planetary scientists for decades. But one idea that always seems to come up in those conversations – volcanoes. It’s clear that Venus has plenty of volcanoes – estimates center around about 85,000 of them in total. However, science is still unclear as to whether there is any active volcanism on Venus or not. A new set of missions to the planet will hopefully shed some light on the topic – and a new paper from researchers from Europe looks at how we might use information from those missions to do so.
The authors break the question of whether there is active volcanism on Venus into two distinct approaches. First, can Venus maintain its current atmospheric composition without adding gases from volcanic sources? Second, is there any evidence for “transient” effects that would only be possible if active volcanoes existed?
Let’s explore the first approach first. One major data point to consider with this approach is the variability of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere over periods as long as decades. Some researchers have pointed to this variability as clear evidence of volcanism. Still, some take a more nuanced view and point out that the variability could be caused by unknown surface-atmosphere interactions or even interactions between two layers of the atmosphere itself.
Fraser has a particular interest in Venus – here’s why.Transient effects in the atmosphere could include any number of features, ranging from water vapor to particulate matter (e.g., volcanic ash). So far, data collected on this has been limited and mainly done with remote sensing missions. However, at least a few of the new missions to Venus will involve taking data as they descend through the atmosphere.
One of those – DAVINCI – plans to take measurements in situ in the atmosphere. It will come with a couple of spectrometers, inertial measurement units, and high-tech cameras to collect data in the planet’s lower atmosphere. The spectrometers themselves should be able to directly and clearly detect trace volcanic gases in the atmosphere. Ionic concentrations, such as the deuterium/hydrogen ratio, would also indicate ongoing volcanic outgassing.
But what about gases higher up in the atmosphere? EnVision, another mission, will specialize in that area of the planet using different types of near-IR and ultraviolet spectroscopy. It might help solve some mysteries in Venus’ cloud tops, including where an unknown reservoir of sulfur dioxide is located, as it seems to be a feedstock to an unknown process taking place in the clouds that defies current modeling efforts.
Venera was one of the previous efforts to map the surface of Venus. Fraser discusses its history here.Though it is beyond the scope of the current paper, another potentially interesting sensor on a cloud-based platform would be an infrasound sensor – as it would be able to directly detect pressure differences caused by volcanic eruptions. Unfortunately, no current planned mission would maintain position in the atmosphere for long enough for such a sensor to do its work, though a few have been proposed in recent years.
There’s still going to be a long wait time before any of these analytical techniques can be put to good use. Of the three main missions heading to Venus shortly, the earliest – DAVINCI – isn’t planned to launch for at least another five years, with arrival at Venus a few years later. That’s plenty of time for theorists to fine-tune their ideas about what the mission might find. And hopefully, it will help us answer the question of volcanism on our closest neighbor once and for all.
Learn More:
Wilson et al. – Possible Effects of Volcanic Eruptions on the Modern Atmosphere of Venus
UT – Potentially Active Volcanoes Have Been Found on Venus
UT – We Now Have a Map of all 85,000 Volcanoes on Venus
UT – Volcanoes on Venus May Still Be Active
Lead Image:
Maat Mons Volcano on Venus
Credit – NASA / JPL
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