Total solar eclipse: The best time to study Sun's 'invisible' part, Pg4

Key Highlights:

• Europe witnessed a total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026, marking its first such event in continental Europe since 1999.
• The eclipse's path of totality traversed parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, a small area in northeast Portugal, and northern Russia.
• Scientists utilize total solar eclipses to study the Sun's faint outer atmosphere, the corona, which is otherwise obscured by the bright solar disc.
• Indian researchers from the Centre of Excellence for Space Science India (CESSI), IISER-Kolkata, predicted the visibility of large-scale streamers during the event.
• The eclipse occurred during Solar Cycle 25, which began in December 2019 and has already passed its maximum activity phase.

Solar Eclipse.jpg

Detailed Insights:

• A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon perfectly aligns between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the Sun's light and revealing its corona.
• The corona is crucial for study as its magnetic field drives phenomena like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can disrupt Earth's communication systems.
• Normally, specialized instruments called coronagraphs are used to artificially block the Sun's disc for corona observation, but they can be affected by scattered light.
• The natural blocking by the Moon during an eclipse provides a unique opportunity for ground-based observations of the inner corona.
• The current Solar Cycle 25 has shown stronger activity than initially predicted, with its peak occurring around October 2024, making the eclipse a valuable observation period.
• Astrophysicists like Dibyendu Nandi from the Raman Research Institute emphasize that eclipses offer insights into the Sun's underlying magnetic structure.
• The predicted large-scale streamers are bright magnetic field structures rooted in the solar surface, offering a rare chance to observe the Sun's magnetic fields directly.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Solar Eclipse: An astronomical event where the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth and blocking the Sun's light.
• Corona: The Sun's outermost atmosphere, extending millions of kilometers into space, visible during a total solar eclipse.
• Coronagraph: An instrument designed to block the direct light from a star, allowing observation of its faint surrounding corona.
• Solar Cycle: An approximately 11-year cycle during which the Sun's activity, marked by sunspots and solar flares, rises and falls.