The April 8 total solar eclipse provides the rare opportunity to look at three celestial bodies in different ways — a rare occurrence that NASA scientists intend to take full advantage of when the moon passes between the sun and Earth for the first time in seven years.

What You Need To Know

  • NASA plans to conduct several experiments during the total solar eclipse April 8

  • The ionosphere will be a focal point of NASA research

  • The ionosphere is a part of the Earth's atmosphere that serves as a conduit for communications and navigation

  • NASA researchers will use rockets, planes and balloons to study Earth's reaction to a sudden loss of sunshine

"At NASA, we explore the unknown in air and space. We’re always looking at pushing that cutting edge of science,” American astronaut, Space Shuttle pilot and NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said during a NASA press briefing about the eclipse on Tuesday.

Melroy said NASA’s focal point is studying the sun’s atmosphere, or corona, which is “key to understanding fundamental questions about how heat and energy are transferred out into the solar wind, which contributes to our understanding not just of solar dynamics but also how solar flares and the solar wind will affect life here on Earth.”

The eclipse will also allow NASA scientists a unique opportunity to look at the sun’s effect on the ionosphere — a part of the Earth’s atmosphere that acts as a conduit for communications and navigation signals. Disturbances in the ionosphere can cause issues with GPS.

“Understanding how solar energy affects the ionosphere is crucial for predicting and mitigating potential disruptions to our technology,” Melroy said. “By observing the temporary decrease in sunlight at a much quicker time scale than we experience for sunrise and sunset, we’re going to gain specific insights into how sunlight affects the ionosphere.”

NASA researchers will use rockets, planes, balloons and on-the-ground observations to research Earth’s reaction to a sudden loss of sunshine.

Three rockets will be launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to explore how the ionosphere changes with a sudden change from day to night. NASA’s WB-57 plane will chase the eclipse with a pair of solar experiments and one atmospheric experiment to “get an additional two minutes of totality and deeper understanding of the sun and the Earth’s atmosphere,” NASA program manager for the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses Kelly Korreck said during the briefing.

Dozens of student teams will also launch balloons along the eclipse path before, during and after the eclipse to get measurements of the Earth’s atmosphere, while a NASA team will use a balloon to study the weather of the eclipse.

In addition to its formal research, NASA encourages citizen scientists to get involved using various smartphone apps that can measure the size and shape of the sun and record things like temperature to understand the effect of the eclipse on the atmosphere and clouds.