Huge explosions from the sun may add a ‘great show’ to solar eclipse
The highly anticipated solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, might offer some extra fireworks.
It’s all thanks to a series of massive explosions that one solar physicist says could be visible during the lengthy daytime phenomena — it will be fully over western New York just after 2 p.m. — that will move across the nation.
The total eclipse of the moon covering the sun could coincide with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which happen when massive particles from the sun are hurled out into space, speculates Ryan French of the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado.
The eruptions take one to three days to reach Earth, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“If we get lucky, a CME will present itself as a twisted, spiral-like structure, high in the atmosphere in the sun,” French told Space.com.
“What this does mean, however, is that the same eruption could be seen in Rochester as it was in Dallas, at different stages of the same long-duration eruption.”
However, French added that to be seen from our planet and not be blocked by the moon’s totality, they would need to occur just over the sun’s edge.
Solar flares, which are similar to CME’s but reach Earth in minutes not days, could also occur.
Another potential garnish to the eclipse would be a solar prominence — massive and dazzling outward rings that the sun expels.
“Sometimes prominences erupt, untethering from the sun’s surface and expanding into the solar system,” French said.
“There have been a few examples of such prominence eruptions over the past few months, each of which would have given a great show if occurring during a total solar eclipse.”
However, the scientist added that even if no major prominence is to come during the eclipse, it “will still provide a view of stationary, non-eruptive prominences.”
They’re just smaller and stay closer to the sun’s surface.
Another Colorado-based scientist, Amir Caspi of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, also warned that because eclipses will only last a few minutes over fixed points, the natural marvels can be tough to spot.
But he did note a glimmer of light and hope.
“The sun is incredibly dynamic; some processes take minutes or even seconds, such as a solar flare or a CME,” Caspi told the outlet.
