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- Two WB-57 research planes waiting on the Tarmac of Ellington Airport. (Photo Credit: Marissa Cummings)
- Tom Parent, one of the pilots for the WB-57's. (Photo Credit: Marissa Cummings)
- Amir Caspi, senior research scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo Credit: Marissa Cummings)
- Pilots and sensor system controller getting into the plane. (Photo Credit: Marissa Cummings)
- (Photo Credit: Marissa Cummings)
Two planes flew in tandem from Ellington Airport and were equipped with high definition cameras to optimize the viewing of the solar eclipse.
Amir Caspi, along with other scientists at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado proposed the project.
Caspi says the sun's outer atmosphere is a mystery.
"Its temperature is millions of degrees compared to only thousands of degrees for the surface underneath," he says
And not just that.
"The solar corona is one of the main sources of what we call ‘space weather,'” he says. “Basically, billions of tons of particles that can come to earth."
Caspi says that can contribute to power outages on earth, satellite interference and the creation of the northern lights.
He also wanted to take advantage of the darkness to study the planet, Mercury.
"To try and understand how long it takes mercury's surface to cool from its hot 750 degree day side to its very cold minus 250 degree night side," he says.
The next solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in 2024, and Houston will get to experience the whole thing.
To see NASA’s 360 live coverage click here:
To watch NASA’s raw feed of the eclipse, click here.