Scientists aim to solve solar mystery during eclipse

A team of Irish scientists, including astronomers from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), is embarking on a unique aerial mission to study the Sun during tomorrow's total solar eclipse. The Air Corps will fly them on a C295 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft towards Iceland, where they will descend to 10,000 feet to capture crucial data.

Their objective is to record images of the Sun's corona, the extremely hot outer atmosphere that has puzzled scientists for decades due to its temperature reaching millions of degrees. The mission is a collaboration with the European Space Agency and Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics. The scientists aim to solve mysteries surrounding the corona, particularly its magnetic fields.

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So it's of course a bit nerve-wracking, but we've been preparing. We've already had two test flights, and our camera will actually work in a pre-programmed sequence and taking all these images in sequence. So the plan is, even though it's only two minutes, we're going to be there early.

Preparations for this mission have been underway for over a year. Dr. Laura Hayes, Assistant Professor at DIAS, will operate a specially designed camera on a gimbal. The camera, named E Cormag, was developed by scientists in Italy and is equipped with filters to observe the corona in white light and a specific spectral line, Iron 14, known for revealing high temperatures. It also features a polarimeter to analyze the morphology of the Sun's magnetic field by filtering light at specific polarization angles.

The team will have a narrow two-minute window during the total eclipse to gather their data. The specialized camera will operate in a pre-programmed sequence to capture as many images as possible. The E Cormag camera incorporates parts used in space telescopes, similar to those on the Solar Orbiter, which will also be observing the eclipse from space. NASA is also deploying an airplane for similar research.

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This camera, this telescope, is called E Cormag, and it is for observing in white light with two filters in white band and in a specific spectral line called Iron 14. The green line, which is very famous for the high temperature which (it) reveals in in the corona. Another important point of this instrument is the polarisation, because we catch the light from the solar corona during the solar eclipse, and thanks to the polarimeter inside the instrument, we filter some special photons in a special angle polarisation, and from that we can have information about the morphology of the magnetic field.