Global Scientists Research Using Eclipses
By Rachel Zhang
international researchers and NASA scientistsobservational campaign during a total solar eclipse over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. The scientists used weather balloons, high altitude aircraft, and sensor arrays to study the sun’s corona, space weather, and atmospheric changes. [Model 5 W’s lede! But even though you fixed “aircrafts” in the lede, it survives later (“special jet aircrafts”) → “aircraft.”]
Scientists want to learn more about the sun and how it affects our planet. Before the eclipse occurred, scientists were already predicting what shape the corona, the Sun’s atmosphere, would look like. The sun has an unpredictable magnetic field that influences this shape and drives solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which send material from the sun into the solar system. NASA deployed special jet aircrafts equipped with high-resolution cameras to view the corona. Additionally, the scientists sent weather balloons into the area in which the moon completely blocks the sun in order to understand how the eclipse affects our atmosphere.
International research teams in Iceland and Spain are conducting specialized scientific missions along the path of totality. European research teams released 80 weather balloons to study the eclipse’s impact on Earth’s “boundary layer”, which is the lowest atmospheric level. Three research teams in Spain launched balloon payloads containing 360-degree cameras and specialized sensors to measure changes in ozone production during totality.
Scientists also use citizen science, contributions from the public, to conduct environmental studies. Citizen scientists are given the chance to get involved with the eclipse work. They would submit videos about daytime light pollution, which is excessive, misdirected, or inappropriate use of artificial outdoor light, and eclipse shadow bands, which are the rippling patterns of shadow that move across the ground just before and after totality. Furthermore, citizen scientists in Spain are also taking the eclipses as chances to study animal behavior. When the sky becomes dark, many species act differently, finding safe places to settle down, even falling asleep or becoming nervous. Over the next 18 months, more than 200 volunteer researchers will track wildlife responses across two additional eclipses in Spain as part of filmmaker Angel Garcia-Rojo’s TriEclipse Project.
Kelly Korreck, the eclipse program manager at NASA.
“What Is Light Pollution?” DarkSky International, darksky.org/resources/what-is-light-pollution/. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.
“NASA Eclipse Science.” NASA Science, 13 Aug. 2026, science.nasa.gov/eclipses/nasa-research/.