NASA will send three rockets during full solar eclipse: why is it required (video)
Scientists want to find out how the temporary blocking of sunlight affects the Earth's air shell, IFLSCIENCE writes. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! It is known that the transition from day to night causes a sharp change in temperature, but scientists know little about how short periods of darkness affect part of our atmosphere under the name of the ionosphere.
It is at a height of 90 to 500 km above the planet's surface and is exposed to sunlight during the day. Sunlight, of course, affects all parts of the atmosphere, but the ionosphere is a creation of this light. High energy photons divide the atoms into electrons and positively charged ions. They are recombinated at night, so the ionosphere decreases. The weather conditions in the lower atmosphere also play a role, creating a more complex picture.
According to scientists, the ionosphere is an electrified region that reflects and refracts radio signals, and also affects satellite communications. Therefore, understanding the processes that occur in the ionosphere are important. During solar eclipses, scientists have a chance to get a lot more information. And on April 8, during a complete solar eclipse, NASA will send three missiles with scientific devices to the atmosphere.
They will study the ionosphere at a height of 420 km during the peak of eclipse, as well as 45 minutes before and 45 minutes after the astronomical phenomenon. In October last year, NASA scientists sent rockets to the ionosphere during a partial solar ring darkening and found that a decrease in sunlight caused distortions that could affect radio and satellite.
Now they want to repeat the same experiment and find out whether the same distortions appear at the same height and whether their scale remains. Past observations have shown atmospheric waves that affect the entire darkening trajectory, as well as more localized distortions that may interfere with the passage of radio signals. Changes in the atmosphere were recorded due to the change in temperature and plasma density.
This time, rocket devices will compare the density of charged and neutral particles at three points during full solar eclipse. As focus has already wrote, billions of years ago, an Ice Age emerged on Earth, which lasted several hundred million years old. At the same time, almost all living creatures were extinct on the planet and oxygen became the culprit.