2 July 2019
2019
Chile
Totality across the Atacama. High, dry air and a dark desert sky for spectroscopy of the inner corona.
The 2 July 2019 eclipse crossed the South Pacific and made landfall in Chile, passing over some of the darkest, driest observing country on Earth. For coronal spectroscopy, the Atacama is almost unfairly good: thin air, low water vapour, and a tradition of astronomical infrastructure.
The Sherpas used the window to study the inner corona — the region, only a few solar radii from the photosphere, where the solar wind is launched. Narrow-band images of highly ionized iron reveal how temperature and magnetic structure change with height, a measurement that remains difficult from space.
The Andes and the desert floor are not gentle field sites. Wind, altitude, and dust compete with the clock. Totality does not wait.