NEW MEXICO, USA — Two solar eclipses will be visible in the United States over the next six months. The first comes this Saturday and will peak in the western part of the country.
Students from the University of Hartford are leaving campus and making the trip to New Mexico to experience the eclipse. It’s all part of a NASA program to collect data and learn more about how an eclipse affects the weather.
“We’ll see the ring of fire around the moon itself. It will be a dark shadow, and then a ring of the sun outside,” Andrew Kresbach, a senior studying aerospace engineering, said.
Saturday’s eclipse is known as an “annular” solar eclipse. As the moon passes between the sun and the earth, it will cover up part of the sun. However, the moon is farther away from the Earth than usual. As a result, the sun won’t be fully covered. Some call this a “ring of fire” eclipse, as the sun won’t totally disappear.
“We’re looking at changes that occur in the atmosphere during and after an eclipse,” Professor Paul Slaboch said. He’s leading the students part of the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, funded by NASA.
It’s a year-and-a-half process, which began in January and will culminate with the total solar eclipse next April.
“This is a really rare opportunity to compare and contrast annular eclipses, that cover more than 90% of the sun, with a total eclipse that covers 100% of the sun,” Professor Slaboch said.
April’s total solar eclipse will be visible in the northeast. The path of totality, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sky will turn dark, includes upstate New York and parts of northern New England. Connecticut will experience a partial eclipse then, visible with safety glasses.
The team will be gathering weather data, but also livestreaming the eclipse as a balloon travels tens of thousands of feet up into the atmosphere.
“We have cameras, two on the side that have a 360-degree view, that will be live streaming on YouTube,” Christian Piscitelli, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering, said.
Ryan Breton is a meteorologist at FOX61 News. He can be reached at rbreton@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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