Day will turn to night this week for millions of people, as the moon passes directly in front of the sun causing a total solar eclipse. On Wednesday 9 March, people in some parts of Australia and south-east Asia will be able to witness the event. It will also be visible in Hawaii, east of the international dateline, where it will still be Tuesday 8 March. For those further west or east in Europe and America, it will already be night, so the sun will not be visible.
During the eclipse, a team of NASA scientists will be anxiously awaiting the start of totality – because at that moment, their countdown clock begins. They plan to take 59 several-second exposures of the sun in just over three minutes, capturing data on the innermost parts of the sun’s volatile, superhot atmosphere – a region we can only observe during total solar eclipses when the sun’s overwhelmingly bright face is completely blocked by the moon.
Credits:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/science/total-solar-eclipse-will-end-the-day-before-it-begins.html
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