- During an interview with Dr. David Collins, a physics professor at Florida State University, I brought up concerns leading up to the eclipse spreading on social media.
- Back in October, NASA launched 3 rockets during the annular solar eclipse to study how a lack of incoming sunlight affects the Earth's upper atmosphere, which will be done again on Monday.
- Watch the video to learn the science behind the rotation of the Earth, moon, and position of the sun.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Why is NASA launching 3 rockets into the sky during Monday’s total solar eclipse?
And if the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it makes no sense that the solar eclipse shadow would move from west to east, right?
I’m meteorologist Riley Winch. These are some questions and concerns I’ve seen on social media the past few weeks, so I spoke to Dr. David Collins, a physics professor at Florida State University, to help me understand why these things are happening.
So first off, what’s the deal with 3 rockets being launched during the solar eclipse?
“It’s really about trying to make sure our communications satellites stay healthy.”
“They’re gonna send up a rocket before the eclipse, during the eclipse, and then after the eclipse to measure what the baseline of the ionosphere looks like, how the ionosphere changes during the eclipse, and then how and what are the after effects of the eclipse passing through the ionosphere.”
That’s great and all, but what is the ionosphere?
“We have this large magnetic field around the earth, and what the magnetic field does is protect us from the solar wind. So the solar wind is a bunch of charged particles that are being blown off the sun, it’s a bunch of naked protons that are being blown off the sun. And most of them are deflected away from the earth, but from the light of the sun and the charged particles of the sun, they ionize some of the gas in the upper atmosphere.”
So where does that connect to our communications satellites, like GPS, weather satellites, and even Starlink satellites?
“That ionosphere has effects on satellites that live in it and communications on the ground, so the ionosphere is a very important part of Earth’s system.”
“So what they’re studying is when the shadow suddenly darkens part of that ionosphere, then it’s going to change the ion content, because it’s blocking some of the particles, it’s blocking the light, so it’s blocking what ionizes the gas around the planet.”
Now if the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, why will the eclipse shadow move west to east?
“So the earth is rotating in this direction, if the sun is over here, the earth is rotating in this direction so you would see it rise in the east and set in the west. But the moon is also rotating in that direction, so as it comes across, you’ll see the moon shadow cross from west to east because the moon is also moving in that direction. And what stops the eclipse is the moon moving out of the way.”
The moon may move west to east just like the Earth, but it revolves around the Earth slower than the Earth rotates itself.
“Even though as we’re sitting on the earth we watch the moon move in the opposite direction because we’re moving in that direction.”
That means the only time you can see the moon move across the sky from west to east is during the solar eclipse.
Don’t believe me? Then make sure to look up at the sky Monday afternoon and see it for yourself! Just make sure you’re wearing protective eclipse glasses.
From the ABC 27 studios in Midway, Florida, I’m Meteorologist Riley Winch.
