{"id":253309,"date":"2025-07-10T11:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T11:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253309\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T11:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T11:10:13","slug":"total-solar-eclipses-may-soon-last-48-minutes-scientists-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253309\/","title":{"rendered":"Total Solar Eclipses May Soon Last 48 Minutes, Scientists Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752145813_169_960x0.jpg\" alt=\"2017 Total Solar Eclipse\" data-height=\"2527\" data-width=\"3186\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"color-body light-text\" role=\"button\">A total solar eclipse is seen on Monday, August 21, 2017, above Madras, Oregon. A total solar &#8230; More eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.  Photo Credit: (NASA\/Aubrey Gemignani)<\/p>\n<p>NASA\/Aubrey Gemignani <\/p>\n<p>A U.K.-led space mission will try to experience around 80 total solar eclipses in space, potentially offering scientists an unprecedented glimpse into the sun\u2019s mysterious outer atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>The Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission, unveiled Tuesday at the <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/conference.astro.dur.ac.uk\/event\/7\/contributions\/468\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-ga-track=\"ExternalLink:https:\/\/conference.astro.dur.ac.uk\/event\/7\/contributions\/468\/\" aria-label=\"Royal Astronomical Society\u2019s National Astronomy Meeting 2025\">Royal Astronomical Society\u2019s National Astronomy Meeting 2025<\/a> in Durham, will synchronize its orbit to coincide with solar eclipses in space. If approved by ESA, MESOM would cost no more than $240 million and could be in orbit by 2026-28.<\/p>\n<p>MESOM comes in the wake of the <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jamiecartereurope\/2025\/06\/18\/in-photos-first-ever-fake-total-solar-eclipse-created-in-space\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jamiecartereurope\/2025\/06\/18\/in-photos-first-ever-fake-total-solar-eclipse-created-in-space\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"first image\" rel=\"noopener\">first image<\/a>s from Proba-3, a European Space Agency mission to do something very similar \u2014 though that will only last for two years.<\/p>\n<p>Solar Corona<\/p>\n<p>Clearer, longer views of the sun\u2019s elusive inner corona \u2014 the source of powerful solar flares and storms \u2014 are essential if solar physicists are to better understand space weather. Only during a total solar eclipse can the corona be glimpsed from Earth\u2019s surface, and even then, only for a few minutes from any one location.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Earth-based total solar eclipses, MESOM aims to align a mini-satellite with the moon\u2019s central umbral shadow once every lunar month \u2014 29.6 days. MESOM\u2019s unique orbit will repeatedly pass through the apex of the moon\u2019s umbral cone, the darkest portion of its shadow, generating near-monthly eclipses.<\/p>\n<p>48-Minute Totality<\/p>\n<p>These in-space eclipses could last up to 48 minutes, far longer than anything experienced from the ground on Earth. \u201cMESOM capitalizes on the chaotic dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system to reproduce total solar eclipse conditions in space while using the moon as a natural occulter,\u201d said co-investigator Dr Nicola Baresi, from the Surrey Space Centre. An occulter is something that blocks light from a celestial object. MESOM will have the following instruments on board:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Telescope (U.S. Naval Research Lab): imaging the corona<\/li>\n<li>Spectrometer (Aberystwyth and UCL): studying coronal plasma<\/li>\n<li>Spectropolarimeter (Spain): analyzing magnetic fields, sunspots and solar and flares<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"color-body light-text\" role=\"button\">The same total solar eclipse with the fields of view of the MESOM instruments superimposed on top of &#8230; More it (i.e. HiBri,LoBri, CHILS and Mag-CHILS).<\/p>\n<p>Miloslav Druckmuller, Shadia Habbal, Pavel Starha.  Attribution (CC BY 4.0)<br \/>\nGetting Closer To The Corona<\/p>\n<p>MESOM is a slight upgrade on ESA\u2019s current Proba-3 mission. That mission sees two spacecraft align so one can occult the sun and project a shadow onto the other \u2014 no moon required. As well as moving into the always-there shadow of the moon, MESOM aims to peer in from just 1.02 solar radii \u2014 35,000 miles (56,000 kilometers) closer than Proba-3.<\/p>\n<p>The Proba-3 satellites follow a highly elliptical 19.6-hour orbit ranging from 373 miles (600 km) at perigee to 37,000 miles (60,000 km) at apogee, flying in precision formation only near apogee. At apogee, they\u2019re as far away from Earth&#8217;s gravitational force and atmospheric drag, enabling them to fly in formation autonomously, achieving eclipse-like conditions for six hours.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Concorde Eclipse\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Although MESOM\u2019s 48-minute totality would be impressive, it\u2019s less than experienced by Concorde on June 30, 1973, when an experimental Concorde aircraft extended totality from 7 minutes and 4 seconds on the ground to 74 minutes in the air, by flying almost as fast as the moon\u2019s shadow. It took off from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in the Spanish Canary Islands, and flew at 1,350 mph (2,200 km\/h) as the moon\u2019s shadow raced across it at 1,500 mph (2,400 km\/h). Concorde was able to extend totality from 7 minutes to 4 seconds on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The Longest Total Solar Eclipse<\/p>\n<p>Mathematically, the longest total solar eclipse could last 7 minutes 31 seconds, according to <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/adsabs.harvard.edu\/full\/2003JBAA..113..343M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-ga-track=\"ExternalLink:https:\/\/adsabs.harvard.edu\/full\/2003JBAA..113..343M\" aria-label=\"Jean Meeus\">Jean Meeus<\/a>. The longest total solar eclipse known to have occurred was 7 minutes, 28 seconds on June 15, 743 BC, in the Indian Ocean. However, it\u2019s been calculated that the longest so far \u2014 7 minutes, 29 seconds \u2014 will occur in the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 2186.<\/p>\n<p>The longest total solar eclipse left this century, with a totality duration of 6 minutes and 23 seconds, will occur on Aug. 2, 2027, close to Luxor, Egypt. Ancient Egypt\u2019s capital of Thebes, Luxor, is home to the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Karnak, and several other temples.<\/p>\n<p>Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A total solar eclipse is seen on Monday, August 21, 2017, above Madras, Oregon. A total solar &#8230;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[97477,29395,97479,97480,97478,70,45782,49542,12131,97481,29396,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-253309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-artificial-eclipses","9":"tag-corona","10":"tag-mesom","11":"tag-mullard-space-lab","12":"tag-proba-3","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-solar-eclipse","15":"tag-solar-storm","16":"tag-space-weather","17":"tag-surrey-space-centre","18":"tag-total-solar-eclipse","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114828635462474626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}