We might also witness some extraordinary activity on the Sun during those rare moments of totality.
At the time of totality, the Suns disc is blocked by the Moon.
What remains is the solar coronathe outermost layer of the Suns atmosphere thats made up of plasma.
Coronal loops on the Sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.Image: NASA/SDO
During solar maximum, however, anything goes, according to MacGregor.
So theres just a lot more structure in the corona.
It gets a lot of tension in it and eventually it snaps.
And if we are extremely lucky, there will be one during those fleeting moments of totality.
The chances of seeing a coronal mass ejection during the eclipse are slim, but theyre not zero.
You will see something like a ball moving outward at high speed, Rawafi said.
The past four solar cycles have been relatively calm, but solar cycle 25 is unexpectedly active.
Since the 2017 eclipse, two spacecraft have launched to study the Sun.
Its blocked out already, so everybody gets to study the Sun for free.
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