Congratulations to IU Astronomy major Rachael Weir and IU Physics Professor John Carini their successful observation of the April, 2023, total eclipse of the Sun in Exmouth, Australia. Rachael and John are part of a project run by the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder to produce an hour-long movie of the solar corona during the 2024 total eclipse in the US. The center of the path of totality will past very close to the Bloomington campus on April 8, 2024. John and Rachael will be setting up teams of astronomers along the path of totality from Arkansas through Pennsylvania to capture the view of the solar corona during totality.
The trip to Australia allowed Rachael and John to learn to use the equipment and to practice how to get the coronal images during the total eclipse. Unlike the Australian eclipse, which lasted just under a minute, viewers of the 2024 eclipse in the US will enjoy roughly four minutes of totality. Their image of the corona is shown above.
You can share Rachael and John’s Australian adventure on YouTube (link) and learn more about plans for the 2024 observations from the SWRI press release (link).
Press Release:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jdW4BUptGo
Image Caption & Credit: The Citizen CATE 2024 project produced this false color image of the solar corona during the 2023 total solar eclipse from Exmouth, Western Australia. The image combines two crossed polarization angles, indicated by color. Prominences, loops and streamers are easily visible in this high-resolution image. (Credit: Courtesy of SwRI/Citizen CATE 2024/Dan Seaton)
The College of Arts