First artificial solar eclipse: besides being amazing, it is very useful

Instead of analyzing the sun with a coronographer, it is now possible to look at the sun directly without waiting for a natural eclipse – which can now last 6 hours.

One of the ways that scientists use to study solar wind – loaded particles emanating from the surface of the sun – is by observing its outer atmosphere known as solar crown.

The problem is that the intense sun emitted by the sun prevents the study of our star, except when we use a coronographer.

As this obstacle makes research very conditioned, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided create your own solar eclipses.

In March, satellites in terrestrial orbit of the proba-3 mission flew into “perfect formation”, separated by 150 meters, for several hours, with a hide the surface of the sun From the point of view of the other – an unprecedented feat.

The satellites aligned and maintained their relative positions, with an accuracy of up to one millimeter, autonomously.

“We hardly believed what we were seeing,” said Andrei Zhukov, the main investigator of the Coronagraph optical instrument of the Real Observatory of Belgium, quoted by. “It was the first attempt, and it worked. It was absolutely amazing. ”

“Our” artificial eclipse “images are comparable to those obtained during a natural eclipse. The difference is that we can create our eclipse in each orbit of 19.6 hours, while the natural total eclipses occur only one or, very rarely, twice a year,” explains the researcher.

“In addition, theNatural eclipses last only a few minuteswhile proba-3 can maintain its artificial eclipse during up to six hours“.

“The first time I saw these images, it was hard to believe,” said Damien Galano, ESA systems engineer. “But it was quickly a very, very strong sense of accomplishment and pride for everything we have achieved over the years.”