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As millions of citizenry across North , Central and South America tilt their heads skyward to watch thepartial " ring of fire " solar eclipsetomorrow ( Oct. 14),NASAengineers will lionize the once - in - a - decade event in their own way : By provoke rockets now at the eclipse ’s fantasm .
Do n’t worry — the sunshine , moon and everyone learn will be just okay . According to NASA , the planned launching of three scientific rockets from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico is part of a strictly scientific mission to study change in Earth ’s upper air during the sudden dip in daylight that eclipses bring .
Photos of an annular total solar eclipse (left) and a total solar eclipse (right).
Related : Where to buy solar eclipse glasses before the Oct. 14 ' ring of flack ' eclipse
At its height , Saturday ’s occultation will see roughly 90 % of the sun ’s light source block by the synodic month . We sleep together from prior eclipses that this sudden cliff in daylight can have somereally strange effects on the planet , include rapid modification in temperature , wind shape and even animate being doings . Less understood is how an occultation affect the electrically - charge upper aura , or ionosphere , which begins between 30 and 50 mile ( 50 to 80 km ) above Earth .
Here , the sun’sultravioletradiation rip electrons away from atoms , shape a vast sea of bill particle throughout the solar day ; at sundown , many of these electrons recombine into neutral atoms , until the sunlight ’s morning rays pass and split them aside again . During the2017 total solar eclipseover North America , scientists watched a speeded up version of this process play out when the synodic month entirely blocked the sun ’s lightness for a few moments , causing " ripples " in the ionosphere as temperatures and ion denseness rapidly dipped , then arise again just after the occultation ’s extremum .
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The combined air- and ground - free-base data will give APEP researcher an unprecedented view of atmospheric change during an occultation . The team will also recover and reprocess the rocket to study the eclipse due to frustrate North America on April 8 , 2024 — this meter , launching from NASA ’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia , just outside the eclipse ’s path .
