Millions of people across North America are preparing to view the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. NASA is also preparing to host a media briefing with other government agencies to discuss what scientific experiments the agency will conduct during the event, as well as provide viewers with information on how to stay safe while viewing the celestial spectacle.
Over the course of about an hour, people in 15 states across America will experience up to four and half minutes of darkness when the Moon blocks the Sun. The only part of the Sun that will be visible in the path of totality will be the its faint outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Those outside the path of totality will experience a partial eclipse.
The states that will have the privilege of viewing the total solar eclipse are: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and small portions of Tennessee and Michigan.
In order to safely view the eclipse, onlookers need to arm themselves with the proper eyewear. Ordinary sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing an eclipse. NASA suggests looking for eyewear that complies with the ISO 12312-2 international standard. Another option is to use a pinhole projector, which provides an indirect viewing method, and does not involve peering directly into the Sun.
To make the search easier, here are two options that meet the standard:
One of the scientific experiments that NASA will be conducting is known as Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP). The study, led by Dr. Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, will comprise launching three sounding rockets during the solar eclipse in order to study how the sudden drop in sunlight affects our upper atmosphere.
Another NASA–funded project, led by Laura Peticolas of the Sonoma State University, is a citizen science project, simply called the Eclipse Megamovie. The project has already selected and sent tracking mounts to over 70 individuals who will be stationed along the path of totality in the US and Mexico. Along with seeking out other volunteers to photograph the event, the group is also seeking volunteers with experience in databases, Python coding, and machine learning to help process the images and reveal hard-to-spot changes in the corona.
“Citizen scientists are the perfect volunteers for this type of research,” Peticolas remarked. “They’re coming with their own cameras. They’re coming with the expertise on how to use those cameras. They’re coming with enthusiasm. And with this group of amazing volunteers, we’re going to get a dataset that is literally impossible to get in any other way.”
The total solar eclipse briefing is scheduled to begin at 10am EDT on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. It can be viewed live via NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website.