What XRT saw during the 2024 eclipse! Click on the images to watch the movie or click here for the youtube version.
The Great American Eclipse: From the Ground to Space
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On April 8th, 2024, parts of Central and North America experienced an amazing and rare phenomenon: a complete solar eclipse. The event traveled from Central Mexico to North-East Canada giving total to partial eclipses across most of the continental United States. Unlike the previous solar eclipse in October 2023, this event was a total solar eclipse where the Moon completely covered the Sun; known as totality. This is in contrast to a ring eclipse, or annular eclipse, where only part of the Sun is obstructed by the Moon. There are two important conditions that must occur for a total solar eclipse to form:
The second condition is dictated by the Earth-Sun-Moon system. Scientists determine the Earth-Sun plane, or ecliptic plane, by following Earth’s orbit around the Sun relative to the solar equator. The Moon-Earth system does not lie on the same plane as the Earth-Sun system, and so there are times where the Moon is above or below the Sun as viewed from Earth. Although it is exaggerated, this concept is demonstrated in the graphic here. It shows that there are two points where the Moon intersects the ecliptic plane, which are called nodes. When one of the nodes comes between the Sun and Earth and the Moon is just passing by that node, a solar eclipse occurs. Since this phenomenon is rare, scientists from around North and Central America took the time to plan and study numerous effects that total eclipses have on the atmosphere and animals. For solar scientists, this time is excellent for studying the corona as the Sun disk is brighter than its surrounding corona. Weather balloons, rockets, and airplanes were used to gather data along with photography from observers. From the ground observations, one can see prominences pulling up from the Sun in red and the corona in a ghostly white. Outside of the atmosphere but still in orbit, Hinode solar satellite was able to capture the eclipse twice. XRT was busy during each opportunity. One of the projects during the eclipse was using XRT data to understand solar plumes (HOP 479). Plumes make up the wispy corona we see during totality. Here are videos focusing on the solar plumes near the Sun's south pole using the Al-mesh filter and Al-poly filter. Another project, HOP394, centered around solar wind stream measurements by Hinode’s EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). XRT supported by recording the Moon’s position so that EIS can obtain precise spectral data less affected by scattered lights . The final Hinode eclipse project that involved XRT was the eclipse itself occuring. Note that XRT only studies X-ray radiation which means we study the corona all the time. As a result, XRT collected hours of data and our team could create breathtaking videos of the eclipse from space. XRT videos and still images were created by Aki Takeda, affiliated with Montana State University, using the Al-poly and Al-mesh filters. Ground based images were created by Rhiannon Fleming, affiliated with Montana State University. Image of eclipse path is from NASA.gov Keywords: Eclipse, Full Disk Filters: Al_Poly, Al_Mesh |
(Prepared by Rhiannon Fleming and Aki Takeda )
The XRT instrument team is comprised of SAO, NASA, JAXA, and NAOJ.
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