Ep. 715: Total Eclipse of the Science: Experiments During the Eclipse

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The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the Sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event.

Transcript

(This is an automatically generated transcript)

Fraser Cain [00:01:04] Astronomy Cast episodes 715. How to watch a total solar eclipse and do some science. Welcome to Astronomy Cast for weekly, facts based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, I’m the publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Doctor Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of Cosmic Quest. IPam, how are you doing?

Pamela Gay [00:01:26] I am doing much better than last week, and I would like to say to everyone who stuck through it. Thank you. While we were trying to record that episode, everything on my screen was flashing red and I have to give a special thanks and a special shout out to Richard Drumm, our editor for hiding most of the chaos that was returning and to our patrons who allow us to pay him. It turns out that our local fiber trunk was in the process of being sliced through while we were recording the episode, and about ten minutes after we were done with like, fighting the internet gods to keep things going. All internet was lost for about 24 hours. Local construction. The message we got from our provider was fabulous. It was a third party doing construction sliced through the fiber trunk. Oh, we don’t know when it will be fixed. It was the most passive aggressive. Wonderful. And thank you all for your patience. Thank you, Rich, so much. And patrons, you’re the ones that allow us to keep going and have as close to excellent as we can get. When I’m distracted by red flashing lights as possible episodes when all the red lights are flashing. Thank you, thank you, all of you.

Fraser Cain [00:02:49] Yeah, any episode would have been twice as long with us troubleshooting live during the episode. Is it you? Is it me? Is it the YouTube? No. YouTube? Yeah, yeah. It turns out your fiber connection was being degraded in real time while we were attempting to do the episode. I’m amazed we got through it as much as you did, because, yeah, you sent me a text message maybe 15 minutes after we closed, like, well, we’re all offline, and it was a disaster, so. I’m amazed.

Pamela Gay [00:03:23] So thank you, everyone.

Fraser Cain [00:03:25] All right. The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do some science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event, and how to maximize your chance of getting it in your eyeballs. All right, Pamela, you are a veteran eclipse hunter. How many total solar eclipses have you witnessed in all of your years of chasing after eclipses?

Pamela Gay [00:03:58] Zero.

Fraser Cain [00:03:58] Zero.

Pamela Gay [00:04:00] The running joke is you want to be anywhere but near me.

Fraser Cain [00:04:04] That’s my plan this year.

Pamela Gay [00:04:06] Yeah, yeah. So the two of us were both vaguely together for 2017. I was I on the floor of the stadium in Carbondale. And you were out in the observing field in Carbondale? Yep. And I had a slightly bigger than the sun sized cloud go in front of the sun just at totality, and you got to see totality.

Fraser Cain [00:04:30] I but I got maybe five seconds of totality right at the.

Pamela Gay [00:04:35] You’re still seeing it.

Fraser Cain [00:04:37] I guess I have.

Pamela Gay [00:04:37] Not yet saw Corona. I have never seen Corona.

Fraser Cain [00:04:40] Yeah, I guess I. I’m going to still say that I saw zero. Oh, but but but you. But you’ve tried a few times now. So yeah. Each time you get to that. Yeah. All right. And so I think this, this is going to cast a long shadow, pardon the pun, over our recommendation. So, so we’re going to get into the science with this. But but first I think it’s really important for us to just give general advice about about how to maximize your chances of getting the best experience for the total solar eclipse, if you’re going to be in the eclipse, and I’m like 30 million people in North America live under the path, just live. You step outside, look up, you will see the eclipse. And then there’s all the people that are coming from elsewhere, like me, like you, to try and get under the eclipse path. So first step one, let’s just talk about safety because it’s absolutely critical.

Pamela Gay [00:05:38] Yes, I a lot of people have a lot of misinformation. If you’re going to try and use welding glass, it has to be 14 or higher. So the myth that you can just use a welding visor is, is like on Rotten Tomatoes where they’re like, there is a grain of truth in there somewhere, but it’s not true. Right. It’s it’s much more a case of you have to have level 14 or higher. The best thing to do is to not try and get yourself welding glasses. They’re heavy, they’re thick. They cost a whole lot of money. Instead, get yourself a pair of ISO certified eclipse glasses.

Fraser Cain [00:06:21] So the, the, the American Astronomical Society has a page where they describe vendors. You can buy them on Amazon. Still you’re looking for the ISO certified.

Pamela Gay [00:06:34] Yes.

Fraser Cain [00:06:35] Look, you know, I mean, I know it’s really tricky to buy stuff on Amazon, especially last minute. There’s a lot of people are going to try and sell stuff. People are freaking out about fakes. I wouldn’t be that concerned with it. And there’s some tests that you can do when you get the glasses that you can just double check to make sure that they are good enough. So how do you do that?

Pamela Gay [00:06:55] So. It’s AI unless it’s ISO certified. I can’t say where I might get sued that you can see if it’s safe or not, because at home no one has the stuff to see if it’s ISO certified. What you can do is is the basic make sure it doesn’t have any pinholes in it. Yeah. Make sure that it doesn’t have any scratches. And holding your glasses up to a very bright light is a good step one. Yeah. Step two is to hold them up to the sun and not have them plastered up against your eyes, but sort of like, okay, does that look entirely dark? Because I’m looking at it. Yeah. Yeah, it’s tricky story, but the main goal is you shouldn’t be able to see any bright light through your glasses.

Fraser Cain [00:07:47] Exactly. And anecdotally in the chat, I’ve seen that Walmart has plenty of them. And I think that’s a good way to go because if this late in the game now, if you’re going to try to go to Amazon then yeah you might get a pair. That’s not great. But if you just go to Walmart or whatever, and as long it says ISO certified, that is the that’s the code word that you’re looking for. That will mean that these glasses are the right level of darkening for you to be able to see it. Target.

Pamela Gay [00:08:15] Rainbow Symphony Online is where I would go, actually. You can still get them from Rainbow Symphony and their stuff’s ISO certified.

Fraser Cain [00:08:21] Okay, yeah. So ISO certified. That’s really looking for from any of these places. Just it should have written on it ISO certified and then you’re good to go. All right. So that’s the safety thing. But there’s more nuance to this because you can look at the sun and in fact you get the best experience when you do look at the sun. But but there is a timing thing. So explain when it’s unsafe to look at the sun and when is it safe to look at the sun?

Pamela Gay [00:08:48] The only time it is safe to look at the sun without an eclipse viewer, or using a safe solar viewer of some sort is during totality. There are apps that you can get that will play a sound when the moon completely blocks out that main disk of the sun, and there, it will make a sound when the moon starts to leave that main disk of the sun. And it’s only during that few minutes or less period of time, depending on where you’re located, under the path of totality. Yeah. Where you can take your glasses off. Yeah. And you really do want to take your glasses.

Fraser Cain [00:09:30] You totally do. And this is the key. Yeah. So you want to make sure that you are definitely in the path of totality, and you’re watching with your glasses, and you’re going to see this little final sliver diamond right at the very edge of the sun. And then when that goes away, when you pretty much can’t see the sun anymore with your glasses, then you can take your glasses off, and you should be able to see the sun in the corona. And then. And the trickier part is when that sun is going to return. Because then on the flip side, you get that little diamond appear again on the sun. And so as you said, if you got some timer, that’s great. But it’s like the second you start to see a brightening, put the glasses back.

Pamela Gay [00:10:08] It’s over.

Fraser Cain [00:10:09] Yeah. It’s over.

Pamela Gay [00:10:11] And the thing to think about is looking at the solar corona during totality. That’s like the same amount of light as a full moon. It’s not even as bright as a full moon. That’s an exaggeration. But it’s safe to look at the full moon. It’s safe to look at the solar corona. Yeah. The rest of the time, there were cases after 2017 of people who managed to burn the crescent sun into the retina. You don’t want to burn the crescent sun into your retina. That’s just the wrong kind of scarring to get on purpose.

Fraser Cain [00:10:46] And don’t mess with binoculars or telescopes unless you’ve got proper safety equipment. Yeah, like I, I can’t even like I wouldn’t even in the middle of totality. I wouldn’t look at them at the sun. Now, with binoculars, even though it’s safe, it’s going to be unsafe in a in a heartbeat. And the second there’s a little bit of sunlight, it’s burning your retinas. So I wouldn’t even take I would not take the risk.

Pamela Gay [00:11:14] One thing that is safe to do, as long as you have glass lenses, because otherwise you’re going to melt your telescope. And that’s a very expensive thing to do by accident, is you can project the sun onto a wall under a board. Yeah. Or.

Fraser Cain [00:11:29] So with camera, whatever you want to do.

Pamela Gay [00:11:31] Yeah, yeah. So I, if I have the opportunity, will be projecting the sun through binoculars on a tripod, and that’s a perfectly safe way. And there’s even easier ways to do this. You can simply have something that you have punched a hole in with a three ring punch and use that to project the sun. And one of the coolest things I learned about is disco balls are very good at reflecting light, but they aren’t dangerous about reflecting light. And so you can just get a disco ball out there, have it scatter images of the sun in all directions, and every one of those little square pieces of mirror is going to give you a perfect projection of the sun.

Fraser Cain [00:12:17] Yeah. All right. We’re going to talk about how to maximize your experience in a second, but it’s time for another break.

Pamela Gay [00:12:24] This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Time is one of the most valuable things each of us have in this modern economy. Many of us, myself included, feel the need to hustle to finish one job and start the next. It sometimes feels like the only me time I have is what I steal from myself. Each night as I read just one more chapter a few too many times, finding time that is meant for me. Too many of us leave ourselves out when planning our day. And this is where BetterHelp comes in. Working with their counselors, you can work to define what is important to you and how to make it a priority. Therapy can help you find what matters to you so you can do more of it. If you have been thinking about starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Early in the pandemic, hearing an ad like this on another podcast got me to give it a try, and I learned coping mechanisms I need it. BetterHelp is entirely online, designed to be flexible, and you can switch therapists at any time. To get started, just fill out an online questionnaire. That’s it. They’ll match you and get you started. Learn to make time. For what? Makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/astronomy today to get 10% off your first month. That’s BetterHelp. Help slash astronomy.

Fraser Cain [00:14:01] And we’re back. All right, we got the safety warnings out of the way. So let’s talk about how you maximize your chance to not be Pamela.

Pamela Gay [00:14:11] Well, I mean, the best thing you can do is position yourself next to a highway near the path or under the path, and be prepared with maps and with a full tank of gas. And look at the weather models the night before and plan a run for it. Now this eclipse is quite polite, so you will have the ability to get up and say, I’m going to make a break for it and decide which way to go.

Fraser Cain [00:14:42] Yep.

Pamela Gay [00:14:43] It enters, Mexico. The eclipse starts at 1107 Pacific in Mexico, here in Saint Louis, where we’re about the midpoint in the United States, maxes out at 2 p.m.. We’re at 99%. I’ll be down in Carbondale, where it’s 100% at 1:59 p.m., and it leaves into Canada at 3:33 p.m.. And I have to admit, I was not able to find the times that it was going through Canada because everyone is like, yeah, don’t go there. The weather.

Fraser Cain [00:15:14] Is terrible. I’m a Canadian. I’m not going to Canada, now. And so I think there’s this sort of state, the strategic plan that you have to think about. So, so a few days in advance, you have to look at those weather forecasts and say, yeah, what regions are expected to have sunny skies and then you’ve got to choose to go to one of those, like if it’s where you are, great, you did it, you won. But otherwise you’re going to have to go. It looks like it’s going to be sunny 100km north for me or 100km south for me. And so you’re going to have to plan to be there. And, and as you said be close to a highway. But there’s going to be a lot of traffic congestion. And so being away from a highway is also good if you can just take back the.

Pamela Gay [00:16:01] Rural.

Fraser Cain [00:16:02] Routes. Yeah. If you can’t rural routes to get where you need to go then then that might be the the path to go as well, because the highways could just be chock a block and you’re stuck in it. You know, people ask me like, well, I want to, you know, what’s the right place to see it? What’s the what’s the best situation and scenery and like, it doesn’t matter. None of that matters if all that matters is that you can see the sun from where you are, and you could be the dense forest. And you find a little spot, an opening in the in the trees you can see the sun, you can be in the plains, whatever. I would avoid places where a lot of people are expecting to go, because you’re not going to be able to get out and you’re not going to be able to stay mobile.

Pamela Gay [00:16:45] The coolest story I’ve heard from anyone so far is, a fellow who in rural Illinois was like, I’m going to go up to my. They build these towers that you can hunt deer from. It’s a thing. Deer stands. So he went up into his deer stand in rural Illinois. He’s the only one for miles. There were trees around. And of course there were deer because they feed deer from deer stands. And he said, all the deer in the herd came and lay down and pretended like, well, I mean, they didn’t pretend for them. It was real, right? It was time to settle down. And there’s actually now subprojects out there for observing animals and submitting data, because researchers are still trying to figure out what of all of these stories that people tell are real or imagined and what is actually happening.

Fraser Cain [00:17:40] So the the analogy that I always use is think of don’t think of this like a picnic. Don’t think of this like you’re going to go someplace you can sit down. You can bring your friends, you family, you can sit around, think of this like a heist that you are considering your escape routes you are considering, you know, keep the car running and and you’re going to have a bunch of ideas, like, if we have to go north and we’re going to go here, and if we have to go south, that we’re going to go over there. And even on the day, a few hours, the clouds are coming in. But you know that there’s clear skies 100km north. You got to drive. And then even in the moment, minutes before you’re looking at the various clouds, and this is the thing that you couldn’t do. That’s the thing that I couldn’t do. But we had friends that did. They got in their cars and they even in some cases they ran to get out from under a cloud because because, you know, it’s just you.

Pamela Gay [00:18:33] Can see the clouds coming across the field and you can run. Yeah. Standing in front of the cloud, it’s ridiculous. Yes. It’s a big.

Fraser Cain [00:18:41] Dodge that cloud. If if there’s just a bunch of fluffy clouds around in all directions, then yeah, you’re going to have to move. And so you’re going to need to replace a field, rural streets, places where you can move and not get hit by car. And so think about your safety, but also think about how to get to a place where you are going to get clear skies because it’s two minutes and then it’s done, and then you just then you can take as long as you need to get home again in horrible traffic.

Pamela Gay [00:19:08] Yeah. Yeah. Can I recommend pausing, picking up food, eating some of the food, and then just being prepared to treat this like the longest munchie car ride ever. On your way home?

Fraser Cain [00:19:24] Yeah, exactly. Now, what about cameras? Because a lot of people ask, you know, I talked to a bunch of people, and they’re, like, telling me this is their first time, but they’re also going to bring in their camera gear and they’re going to try and capture the eclipse. What do you think about taking pictures of eclipse?

Pamela Gay [00:19:37] So there is software that you can get for jailbroken cameras that will control the exposure times for you. You set up your camera, you get it going with the software and it just goes and does its own thing. Now, if you’re in a situation where you can have your jailbroken camera that you are utterly ignoring like it is dead to you during totality, that’s fine. Yeah. Do not be messing with your exposures. Do not be touching your camera. Do not be looking through your viewfinder. None of this is is a good use of that seconds to minutes that you have in the shadow of the sun.

Fraser Cain [00:20:18] Unless you’ve seen multiple it. Unless you’re bored of watching total solar eclipses with your own eyeballs, then consider trying to take a picture of it. Or if you’re a pro. But it is. It is one of the most complicated astrophotography shots to do because you’re going from full sunlight. Yeah, to no sunlight.

Pamela Gay [00:20:42] And so people are pulling filters off.

Fraser Cain [00:20:44] Yeah. The exposure requirements are different that you have to put any filters on top of it. And after removing a change exposures, all of that and all of this time as you’re fussing with your camera, with your back to the sun, you are not experiencing the solar eclipse and you have to do the solar eclipse. And so and so my recommendation is like, unless you’ve seen a bunch of these and you know what you’re doing and you’re an experienced astrophotographer, don’t even bother bringing the camera. You cannot capture the magic in your soul that you experience from seeing the eclipse. And you will just ruin your experience by attempting to fast with your gear. Don’t do it. It’s a it’s a newbie trap. All right, so people are watching it, but they want to take their enthusiasm to the next level. How can they participate in some science while this is happening?

Pamela Gay [00:21:40] So the projects that you can still get involved in. Aren’t all that exciting. If you’re dreaming of recreating, general activity observations or something. Those projects, those people. So we have the modern Eddington experiment. We have Project Kate. They have been doing practice observations for months so that it will be muscle memory during the eclipse. So there are citizen science projects out there that are observation based, looking at the sun, fancy equipment. They are amazing. I can’t wait to see their results for you. Dear humans watching this right now, the kinds of things that we have available for you are the globe which does globe at night, and a variety of other science projects. They have a project where they’re asking people to measure the temperature change from before the partial phase starts all the way through the partial phase, through totality and out, and also measuring the percent cloud cover. And they’re trying to better understand the correlation between clouds temperature and, phase of the eclipse that is being experienced, to make sense of all of these stories about totality, had some clouds go away. There are a lot of stories people have, not me. I’m not one of those people. There are a lot of stories other people have about how that occurs, and they’re trying to get to the science of that. There is also projects to understand what exactly happens with the wildlife. So here we have the soundscapes project, Google Eclipse soundscapes. You can still get involved in a variety of different roles. They have people both observing what’s going on around them, putting up, audio recorders to actually measure both comparison data 24 hours or more ahead of time and afterwards. And then during the eclipse, seeing when things get twilight colored, what happens at midday? How are these animals responding? I’m really excited about the soundscape project. This is an extremely well done project that also allows people who are differently abled to fully be involved in the project in a variety of different ways, which we don’t see very often.

Fraser Cain [00:24:01] Yeah, it’s really cool. And so. We’ll put some links in the show notes for people to be able to to access some of these projects. And so not just to the science actually NASA now is doing some science as well. So on a chase plane I know, I know, it’s so amazing. They’re going to they’re going to and they’re going to send a rocket. They can do sounding rocket.

Pamela Gay [00:24:26] I’m much more excited about the chase planes because when you’re in the path of totality, there is just something cool about looking up, seeing the Jets go by, and knowing those chase planes are literally working to keep their butts in the shadow of the sun, measuring what’s going on with our atmosphere throughout the entirety of totality. There’s also all sorts of weather balloon projects that are going on. So our atmosphere responds to the sun, responds to the solar energy, it responds to the magnetic field of the sun. And all of these different things are getting shadowed to different amounts. Yeah. Where there are people who are going to be out there looking at changes in radio signal, changes in how our ionosphere is working, there’s actually a ham radio project that is, collaborating with all these other NASA projects to see how far they can bounce radio signals through the ionosphere during totality. Essentially, this is the one free chance we get to look at the middle layers of the solar corona. See how the magnetic energy is getting transformed into heat by looking at how these layers of the corona that we otherwise never get to see are changing and moving. We get to see the electron density flowing through that magnetic field. All of this is stuff normally hidden from us entirely by that bright disk of the sun.

Fraser Cain [00:26:01] Yeah, yeah. So the these chase planes, I mean, it’s it’s crazy. I mean, the eclipse shadow’s moving so fast, you don’t realize, but it is moving at well over 1000km/h. And so you still only get a little extra time of totality as you’re flying in the, in the chase plane, but it’s enough to just do more new double or triple the science. And there’s some weird stuff that happens during eclipses, like temperature changes, cloud changes that happen. And what’s great is that it’s this way to introduce this one variable. You make this, everything is the same. It’s the middle of the day time. You know what the normal weather conditions are. You know the normal climate conditions are. And you remove the sun right from each one of these places along the entire eclipse path. And this just informs scientists an enormous amount. There’s a there’s a weird tendency for clouds, for light clouds to disappear. Yeah. As the eclipse is beginning.

Pamela Gay [00:27:00] And it’s finally getting understood.

Fraser Cain [00:27:03] Slowly and hopefully they’re going to understand. Yeah, yeah. So there’s you’d think after hundreds of eclipses that people have been able to see over hundreds of years.

Pamela Gay [00:27:16] And this is one of the things the, the ability to get high quality equipment and high quality weather in the same place is statistically like it just does not happen the way you would expect. Eddington back in 1919 was super lucky with taking the images he did and seeing as many stars near the edge of the sun as he did allow and confirmation of general relativity. Now he was able to confirm that near the edge of the sun there is a, bending of the light of about 1.75 arc seconds. We know that the amount that the light is bent should decrease in a well-understood way. As you go further and further from the edge of the sun. Those numbers still haven’t been fully confirmed. Like we trust them. We believe them, but they aren’t confirmed, and folks have been trying to confirm them since those original measurements. And they’re going to try again this year to confirm.

Fraser Cain [00:28:27] What Eddington saw.

Pamela Gay [00:28:29] This this function of distance with the modern Eddington experiment. And I read a paper on all the things that have plagued past measurements, from perfect weather and not enough stars to enough stars and imperfect weather. It’s just a cursed experiment.

Fraser Cain [00:28:47] Yep, yep. It’s really interesting. Well, I think on this note. Good luck. Everybody getting a chance to see the eclipse. Those of you who aren’t gonna be able to travel to it, you will be able to watch versions of it online, I’m sure.

Pamela Gay [00:29:02] And partial eclipse for everyone in North America.

Fraser Cain [00:29:05] And right. But remember, 99% is is. Nope. You know, if you can if you could see 99%, you could see 100%. So don’t. It’s 99% is unacceptable.

Pamela Gay [00:29:18] And there’s research showing that this actually causes brain chemistry things to happen. Wow. And there’s ongoing research. This this is as close to the overview effect as you get while all over the planet.

Fraser Cain [00:29:31] That’s awesome.

Pamela Gay [00:29:31] So go experience it. Feel all the endorphins I have never felt.

Fraser Cain [00:29:36] You know. Oh, this is it. This is your year.

Pamela Gay [00:29:39] And I have rain forecast.

Fraser Cain [00:29:41] Oh, I’ll do you. Oh, I haven’t even even dared look at my long range forecast. I was just going to freak me out in Texas.

Pamela Gay [00:29:48] Yeah, I know, I’m attached to a sound board on the floor of the Carbondale Stadium again, so.

Fraser Cain [00:29:53] Yeah.

Pamela Gay [00:29:54] Yeah.

Fraser Cain [00:29:55] All right. Well, Pamela, thank you so much. Good luck. And we’ll talk in a couple of weeks after we both experience our versions of this amazing adventure.

Pamela Gay [00:30:04] And and thank you to all the patrons who make this and everything else we do possible. We thank the $10 and up folks at the end of our episode. You are are I shall mispronounce your names category of donors and you make all the difference. All of you, even even the folks who throw $1 at us once a year. Maybe it makes all the difference. We appreciate you so much this week I would like to thank by name, which I will mispronounce, time Lord IRA, Robert Handel, Paula Esposito, Michael Hartford, just me and the cat, will Hamilton, Jeff McDonald, Lee ha, born Katie Byrne, Conrad Holling, Thomas Gazeta. Jarvis, Earl. Tosh, Nana. Kimmy Mike. Hazy, Bob. Crail, Greg. Wilde. John. Baptiste. Lamont. Ney, Noah. Albertson, Cody. Rose, Michael. Purcell, Sterling. Gray, Adam W, Simeon. Thompson, Mark. Schneider, Michael. Chandler. Astor, Bob. Galactic president, superstar MC scopes a lot. I love that one. And John Theys, thank you all so very much for everything you do.

Fraser Cain [00:31:23] All right. Thanks everyone. We’ll see you next week. No, in two weeks.

Pamela Gay [00:31:26] Two weeks, two weeks. Bye bye. Astronomy cast is a joint product of the Universe Today and the Planetary Science Institute. Astronomy cast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. So love it, share it, and remix it, but please credit it to our hosts, Fraser Cain and Doctor Pamela Gang. You can get more information on today’s show topic on our website. Astronomy. Cars.com. This episode was brought to you. Thanks to our generous patrons on Patreon. If you want to help keep the show going, please consider joining our community at Patreon.com Slash Astronomy Cast. Not only do you help us pay our producers a fair wage, you will also get special access to content right in your inbox and invites to online events. We are so grateful to all of you who have joined our Patreon community already. Anyways, keep looking up. This has been Astronomy Cast.