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Greg Heilman | AS
\nUpdate: Mar 29th, 2024 13:51 EDT<\/p>\n
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Americans across a large swath of the nation will be privy to one of the most spectacular celestial events and many more will\u00a0travel to get a glimpse<\/a>.\u00a0On Monday 8 April, there will be a total solar eclipse and there won\u2019t be another over the US until 2044.<\/b><\/p>\n NASA doesn\u2019t want to miss the opportunity either but researchers won\u2019t be looking through special glasses or telescopes to observe the astronomical phenomenon.\u00a0The US space agency will launch three rockets into the Moon\u2019s shadow during the solar eclipse.<\/b><\/p>\n The path of totality<\/b>, the area where direct light from the sun will be completely blotted out,\u00a0will cross the United States from Texas to New England.<\/b>\u00a0It will last more than twice as long as the 2017 event and the path of totality will be almost twice as wide.<\/p>\n The celestial event will give scientists an opportunity to\u00a0\u201cstudy how Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet,\u201d<\/b>\u00a0according to\u00a0NASA<\/a>. Specifically, they will be looking at the disturbances created in the ionosphere, which is the boundary between Earth\u2019s lower atmosphere and the vacuum of space, when the Moon eclipses the Sun.<\/p>\nWhy is NASA firing rockets into the 8 April 2024 solar eclipse?<\/h3>\n
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