Camilla Jessen
In a race against time and shadows, NASA deploys two WB-57 jets to capture the longest solar eclipse totality over land in a decade.
As the moon casts its shadow across the Earth on April 8, a unique celestial event will unfold—a total solar eclipse with the longest period of totality observed from land in over ten years. For solar scientists and eclipse enthusiasts alike, this event marks an extraordinary opportunity to delve into the mysteries of the sun’s corona, the outermost part of its atmosphere, usually obscured by the sun’s bright light.
A Race Against the Shadow
For a brief window of approximately four minutes and twenty-seven seconds, viewers on the ground will experience the surreal phenomenon of totality, where the moon completely obscures the sun, revealing the ethereal glow of the corona.
But for the teams aboard two of NASA’s WB-57 jet planes, this window extends to over six minutes, thanks to their high-speed chase of the moon’s shadow across the Earth’s surface.
Traveling at 740 kilometers per hour, just south-west of the eclipse’s maximum point, these jets are on a mission to capture data that ground-based observations simply cannot.
Their pursuit not only extends the duration of totality but also provides a unique vantage point above the lower layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, offering clearer, more stable conditions for observation.