{"id":34393,"date":"2026-08-17T10:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=34393"},"modified":"2026-08-16T12:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T16:37:39","slug":"swri-led-mission-observes-recent-eclipse-from-above-the-cloud-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2026\/08\/swri-led-mission-observes-recent-eclipse-from-above-the-cloud-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"SwRI-led mission observes recent eclipse from above the cloud cover"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 August 14, 2026 \u2014 Using unique equipment installed on NASA\u2019s WB-57 aircraft flying above heavy clouds off the coast of Iceland, a Southwest Research Institute-led team successfully observed a total solar eclipse on Wednesday. The high-altitude jet followed the shadow of the Moon at 50,000 feet to take measurements of the solar corona<\/strong> in nine different wavelengths, ranging from visible to infrared light.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis eclipse was the perfect opportunity to use the unique imaging capabilities of NASA\u2019s high-flying research observatory,\u201d said Dr. Amir Caspi, a senior program manager at SwRI\u2019s Solar System Science and Exploration Division located in Boulder, Colorado. He is principal investigator of the project, which was conducted in collaboration with NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.\u201c The eclipse track was mostly over the Atlantic Ocean, in locations where clouds are common, exemplifying the advantages of the WB-57\u2019s mobile, high-altitude capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team collected the high-resolution images of the eclipse with the Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery team\u2019s Airborne Multispectral Imager, or SAMI, mounted on the nose of the aircraft. Originally developed at Langley to image the Artemis I rocket plume and capsule reentry, SAMI has found additional use for astronomical imaging through a series of eclipse observations. These unique observations allow scientists to view the complex and dynamic features of the Sun\u2019s outer atmosphere in ways that aren\u2019t possible or practical by any other means.<\/p>\n

The faint light from the corona is usually overpowered by the intense brightness of the Sun itself<\/strong> but is readily accessible when the Moon blocks the bright solar disk. Observing from high altitude not only overcomes cloud cover, but also can image wavelengths, such as infrared, that are absorbed by the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

In addition to revealing the million-degree corona<\/strong>, eclipses also sometimes reveal prominences, huge loops of hot magnetized plasma that can erupt from the Sun\u2019s atmosphere. If the resulting solar particles released reach the Earth, they could potentially cause damage to satellites, interfere with GPS navigation and knock out power grids, so understanding them better is important to reduce the risks posed by space weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data are really exciting and include a massive, unexpected prominence on the Sun\u2019s east limb, which will provide some very interesting science,\u201d said SwRI\u2019s Dr. William Ashfield, who led the calibration and analysis of observations from the 2024 eclipse and will continue with the new measurements. \u201cBased on lessons\u00a0learned from using SAMI in 2024, the new observations will allow us to explore this phenomenon in all of SAMI\u2019s passbands. I\u2019m looking forward to digging into the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team meticulously planned the flight path and observing sequence to ensure the plane would encounter the eclipse on time and complete their observations in the brief window of totality available at high altitude. The pilot and sensor equipment operator executed the plan perfectly, resulting in two minutes and 56 seconds of totality \u2014 exactly the duration the mission intended to achieve. The mission produced over 2 terabytes of high-speed observations at tens of images per second, allowing scientists to track both structure and dynamics within the corona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe achieved all of our mission objectives<\/strong>,\u201d Caspi said. \u201cThis spectacular success was made possible by the efforts of the entire team, including the WB-57 air and ground crew who executed the mission, the SCIFLI\/SAMI team who built and calibrated the instrument, the science team who planned and will analyze the observations, and even the U.S. Navy and government of Iceland, who hosted us and provided extensive logistical support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NASA-funded, SwRI-led team includes scientists from NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center, Predictive Sciences Inc. and the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research High Altitude Observatory and included collaborators from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The WB-57 program is headquartered at Ellington Field at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center.<\/p>\n

SwRI thanks the U.S. Navy Squadrons VP-1 and VP-62, the Icelandic Coast Guard, and the U.S. Embassy in Iceland for their hospitality and critical logistical support.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit https:\/\/www.swri.org\/markets\/earth-space\/space-research-technology\/space-science\/heliophysics<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 August 14, 2026 \u2014 Using unique equipment installed on NASA\u2019s WB-57 aircraft flying above heavy clouds off the coast of Iceland, a Southwest Research Institute-led team successfully observed a total solar eclipse on Wednesday. The high-altitude jet followed the shadow of the Moon at 50,000 feet to take measurements of the solar… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[824,825,826],"tags":[828,827,830,829],"class_list":["post-34393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astronomy","category-science","category-universe","tag-eclipse","tag-solar","tag-telescope","tag-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34395,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34393\/revisions\/34395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}