Scientists Deploy 3 Jets and 80 Balloons for August 12 Total Solar Eclipse
Updated
Updated · Scientific American · Jul 15
Scientists Deploy 3 Jets and 80 Balloons for August 12 Total Solar Eclipse
3 articles · Updated · Scientific American · Jul 15
Summary
August 12’s eclipse will deliver at most 2 minutes 18 seconds of totality over Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain, prompting scientists to mount airborne experiments to capture data during the brief window.
NASA plans to fly three WB-57 research jets over Iceland at 50,000 feet, using visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras to study the sun’s corona above most atmospheric water vapor.
Eighty student-linked balloons from the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project will launch over Spain and Iceland across 30 hours, targeting atmospheric gravity waves that researchers say could sharpen climate and pollution models.
Spain-based teams will send up 16 more balloons with radiation and magnetic instruments to test whether totality alters cosmic radiation, while University of Iceland researchers will re-create the 1919 eclipse experiment that helped confirm general relativity.
Beyond the measurements, organizers say the eclipse offers a rare public-science moment, pairing high-value solar and atmospheric research with outreach aimed at showing nonexperts they can take part in landmark experiments.
With clouds as the ultimate threat, what is the backup plan for these once-in-a-generation eclipse experiments?
How will two minutes of darkness next month help protect Earth's power grids from violent solar storms?
Could this eclipse reveal the first-ever crack in Einstein's century-old theory of relativity?
The August 12, 2026 Total Solar Eclipse: Unprecedented Global Science, Collaboration, and Discovery
Overview
The August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse offers a rare global scientific opportunity, with its path of totality sweeping across Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, northern Spain, Portugal, and ending in northern Russia. The longest totality, lasting 2 minutes and 18 seconds, will occur southwest of Iceland, while Reykjavík will experience about 1 minute of total eclipse. This event enables extensive research on the Sun’s corona, gravitational lensing, and atmospheric changes, supported by international collaboration and advanced technology. The eclipse will also be widely visible as a partial eclipse across much of Europe, Canada, and parts of the United States.