WASHINGTON – Starting Friday, NASA Television will air video documenting a science expedition to Tripoli and the Sahara desert that studied a total solar eclipse. The international mission was an unprecedented collaboration with Libyan scientists and researchers from around the globe. The video will be broadcast on NASA TV and NASA’s Web site on Friday, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT.
To view the video and for NASA TV downlink and schedule information, visit:
The March 29, 2006, eclipse lasted more than four minutes at the center of its path. Most total solar eclipses last two minutes or less. Total solar eclipses are of special interest to astronomers because they are the only time the sun’s corona can be seen from the Earth’s surface. Observers can detect and measure properties of the sun’s outer atmosphere, such as temperature, density and chemical composition, when the light of the disk is blocked by the moon.
The next total solar eclipse will occur Aug. 1, 2008. It will last about two minutes and can be seen in northern Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. The next total solar eclipse visible from the United States is not until Aug. 21, 2017.
To learn more about the expedition, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/everydaylife/eclipse_libya.html
