Air Force Academy cadets to deploy to eclipse path
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A group of about a dozen United States Air Force Academy cadets will be deploying to Texas and Illinois to study the sun during the eclipse that's set to pass over the United States next week. The data they collect using sun scopes, cameras, and telescopes will be submitted to NASA to aid their research.
"We're trying to be there for the four and a half minutes that the sun will completely be in front," Julie Simms, a third-class cadet on one of the teams said.
Simms explained that her team of three deploying to the eclipse path in Texas will be taking pictures of the eclipse as it is happening with a Nikon camera at differing shutter speeds. Other teams will use more specialized gear to capture solar flares and sunspots.
"We're studying how the sun's activity changes. It's on an 11-year cycle of intensity, and right now we're at the peak of that 11-year cycle," Cadet Quinn Miller said.
"There are certain things that we can only study during Eclipse here on Earth. And one of those things is called the Corona," Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Roth said.
Roth says he's been organizing this data collection team for a while now and wanted to allow his students to study the earth's closest star in a way that would build their knowledge and experience while making a real impact.
"It is actually really important for us to understand our closest star and know what's going on with it. It helps with weather patterns and everything else. But those solar events can knock out satellites," Roth said.
Roth explained that this research could help scientists with NASA understand how the sun's behavior impacts technology that the nation relies on, like GPS, transformers, or even the technology involved in bank transfers.
"[The cadets are] excited to learn about the different technology, excited to get their hands on the data. Just going through the process of scientific data collection and then having that data fed into scientific knowledge is quite exciting. They're going to get credit in scientific journals for this," Roth said.
