The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission, set to launch this week from India, will create artificial total solar eclipses in space to study the sun’s corona. The satellites will work together to form an external coronagraph, allowing scientists to observe the corona for up to six hours, 50 times a year. This is significantly longer than the two minutes typically observed during natural total solar eclipses.
Proba-3 aims to improve our understanding of solar activity and its impact on space weather. The mission will use two satellites flying just 500 feet apart to cast shadows and minimize stray light. This will enable scientists to capture short videos of the corona, crucial for studying this dynamic region of the sun’s atmosphere.
In contrast to natural total solar eclipses, which occur about once every 18 months and are visible from a narrow path across Earth, Proba-3’s artificial eclipses can be repeated frequently. The first artificial eclipse is scheduled for next year, with the pair of satellites flying together in a fixed configuration as if they were a single rigid structure in space.
By using artificial total solar eclipses in space, scientists can conduct in-depth studies of the corona without the limitations of natural events. This will provide valuable insights into the sun’s behavior and its effects on our planet’s climate and space weather.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/12/03/europes-fake-total-solar-eclipses-will-last-six-hours—what-to-know