NASA plans high‑speed aircraft chase of August 12 solar eclipse

NASA will use its high‑altitude WB‑57 research aircraft to follow the Moon’s shadow during the total solar eclipse on 12 August. Flying at about 740 km/h at 15 000 m altitude, the plane will remain in totality for nearly three minutes—longer than the roughly two‑minute maximum visible from the ground. The aircraft will carry the SAMI system, four high‑speed cameras that capture at least 20 images per second in visible and infrared wavelengths, to study the Sun’s corona, its heating, prominences and the solar wind.

In addition to the airborne observations, NASA will launch a series of balloon probes: about 80 balloons from Iceland and six equipped with 360° cameras from Spain. These balloons will gather data on how the eclipse affects the lower atmosphere. The eclipse path will cross remote parts of northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, Spain and a small portion of Portugal, while the United States will see only a partial eclipse.