8 April 2024
2024
Mexico
Totality swept from the Pacific into the mountains. Multi-site observations traced ion emission through a structured corona.
The 8 April 2024 eclipse offered a long overland path and a corona still marked by the approach to solar maximum. The Sherpas deployed along the Mexican portion of totality, from the Pacific coast into the Sierra Madre, to reduce the risk of a single site being lost to cloud.
Observations concentrated on Fe XI and Fe XIV emission — diagnostic lines that map electron temperature and the freeze-in of ion charge states in the region where the solar wind is accelerated. White-light imaging ran in parallel, recording the large-scale magnetic structure of the corona.
Each site was a temporary observatory: optical benches, tracking mounts, power, and a timetable measured in seconds.