{"id":149628,"date":"2021-10-12T16:26:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T02:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=149628"},"modified":"2021-10-12T16:26:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T02:26:23","slug":"uh-astronomers-local-ship-antarctic-eclipse-expedition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/12\/uh-astronomers-local-ship-antarctic-eclipse-expedition\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> astronomers use local ship to prepare for Antarctic eclipse expedition"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Three
Eclipse team tests equipment on the boat deck in waters off Oʻahu<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next total solar eclipse is coming on December 4, but there\u2019s no easy way to view it because totality will be over Antarctica! For University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) Astronomer Shadia Habbal<\/strong> and her eclipse team, the Solar Wind Sherpas, this is just another exciting challenge. They\u2019ve chased eclipses around the globe, but this winter, their only observation option is by sea, and their plan is to conduct studies in the remote South Pole from the deck of a 150-foot yacht.<\/p>\n

\"Sun
The eclipse team captures the Sun setting off Oʻahu<\/span> while they test equipment aboard the Majestic<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It\u2019s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Habbal. “We are one of a small handful of scientific teams who will carry out observations from Antarctica. We are seasoned eclipse observers, but this is the first time ever that we\u02bbve prepared for observations from onboard a vessel.”<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve partnered with local company Atlantis Cruises, known for its submarine adventures off Waik\u012bk\u012b, to test their equipment on its vessel, the Majestic<\/em>. To operate on a swaying boat deck, scientific equipment must be mounted on stabilizing platforms. On October 3, Habbal\u2019s team deployed this equipment on the Majestic<\/em>, and assessed how the instruments performed over the ocean. Weather conditions will also play a major factor in the December expedition.<\/p>\n

“This eclipse will occur when other spacecraft, which are observing the Sun, are chartering new grounds by approaching the Sun at distances never achieved before,” Habbal said. “Obtaining observations at the same time will be of great scientific value.”<\/p>\n

\"Shadia
Shadia Rifai Habbal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skies darken during a total solar eclipse, which occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth align. Habbal has led her team on 16 eclipse expeditions across the world. During the 2020 eclipse in Argentina, they discovered a double-bubble solar eruption<\/a>, and observed how it triggered the Sun\u2019s corona to go through measurable changes in temperature distribution and density. These events on the Sun\u2019s surface can devastate the world\u2019s power grid and impact astronauts traveling the solar system, so fully understanding their nature is important.<\/p>\n

The use of the Waik\u012bk\u012b off-shore cruise yacht came as a result of IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s physical plant manager, Bill Unruh<\/strong>, who serves as the vessel\u2019s senior naturalist during whale-watching season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Institute for Astronomy astronomer Shadia Habbal and her eclipse team, will conduct studies in the remote South Pole on December 4. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[35,1363,9],"class_list":["post-149628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-manoa-research","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149628"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149638,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149628\/revisions\/149638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}