A pyramid eclipses the Sun.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of Corel Corporation

Total Solar Eclipse - Coming Soon!
News story originally written on February 23, 1998

There is a solar eclipse coming to a theater near you! Well, Shakespeare said all the world's a stage, didn't he? There really will be a total solar eclipse on February 26th. The complete eclipse will be visible mainly in the Carribean, though much of South America and the southern and eastern United States will able to see a partial eclipse.

NASA will investigate this solar eclipse in several ways. First, NASA will use ground-based telescopes to analyze the structure and magnetic activity of the Sun's corona. NASA will observe the eclipse from Guadeloupe and from Aruba.

Now, I know that Aruba sounds inviting this time of year (especially to those of you in the northern U.S.), but there are actually more exciting vantage points from which to observe the Sun! First, the NASA/ESA SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft will assist in verifying earth-bound observations of the Sun during the eclipse.

Probably the most exciting vantage point to see the Sun is from the NASA/ESA Ulysses spacecraft. The Ulysses spacecraft is in polar orbit around the Sun right now which gives this spacecraft a "birds-eye view" of the Sun's corona. Ulysses is likely to see huge loops of solar material tearing away from the Sun's corona. These loops are seen from the Earth only during solar eclipses, but they are extremely important because they can cause an increase of space weather storms!

One way to view this solar eclipse is to watch the coverage on NASA TV ( available through the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C located at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio at 6.8 MHz). If you are outside during the eclipse (from about 16:00-18:00 UT), remember, never look directly at the Sun! Here are some solar eclipse viewing tips...

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Solar Eclipses

An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Earth passes through the Moon's shadow. A total eclipse of the Sun takes place only during a new moon, when the Moon is directly between the Sun and the Earth and...more

The Solar Corona

Rising above the Sun's chromosphere , the temperature jumps sharply from a few tens of thousands of kelvins to as much as a few million kelvins in the Sun's outer atmosphere, the solar corona. Understanding...more

1999--A Year in Review...

It was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great century of discovery. Unfortunately,...more

STS-95 Launch: "Let the wings of Discovery lift us on to the future."

The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 2:19 p.m. EST, October 29th. The sky was clear and the weather was great as Discovery took 8 1/2 minutes to reach orbit for the Unitied...more

Moon Found Orbiting Asteroid

A moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. A special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon...more

U.S. is Fed Up with Russia

Will Russia ever put the service module for the International Space Station in space? NASA officials are demanding an answer from the Russian government. The necessary service module is currently waiting...more

More on Recent Coronal Mass Ejection

During a period of about two days in early May, 1998, the ACE spacecraft was immersed in plasma associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME). The SWICS instrument on ACE, which determines unambiguously...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA