美国国家航天局（NASA）约翰逊空间中心（Johnson Space Center）飞行员追逐月球（Moon）阴影以进行交食科学研究

在8月12日欧洲上空的日全食（total solar eclipse）期间，科学家们旨在研究一个长期存在的谜团：为什么太阳的外层大气（outer atmosphere），即日冕（corona），比其可见表面热得多。获取所需数据意味着必须在正确的时间出现在正确的地点。

During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is far hotter than its visible surface. Capturing the data they needed meant being in exactly the right place at the right time.

来自美国国家航天局（NASA）约翰逊空间中心（Johnson Space Center）的飞行员驾驶WB-57F高空研究飞机从休斯顿的埃灵顿机场飞往冰岛，这是他们飞越全食带（path of totality）的基地，旨在为科学家提供更清晰的太阳日冕观测视野。

Pilots from NASA’s Johnson Space Center flew the WB-57F high altitude research aircraft from Ellington Field in Houston to Iceland, their base for flying through the path of totality to give scientists a clearer view of the Sun’s corona.

日全食为研究日冕提供了独特的机会，因为月球（Moon）暂时遮挡了太阳明亮的表面，从而显露出其较暗的外层大气。在这一短暂窗口期内收集的观测资料，可以帮助科学家更好地理解能量和物质如何在日冕中移动并远离太阳，从而改善我们对空间天气的理解。

A total solar eclipse provides a unique opportunity to examine the corona because the Moon temporarily blocks the Sun’s bright surface, revealing its fainter outer atmosphere. Observations collected during this brief window can help scientists better understand how energy and material move through the corona and away from the Sun, improving our understanding of space weather.

在约50,000英尺的高空，WB-57F飞行在大多数云层、灰尘和水蒸气之上，这些物质会干扰地面观测。该高度减少了天电干扰（atmospheric interference），同时也使科学仪器能够观测到在地球（Earth）大气层较低处被大量吸收的红外波长。

At about 50,000 feet, the WB-57F flew above most clouds, dust, and water vapor that can interfere with observations from the ground. The altitude reduced atmospheric interference while also allowing the science instruments to observe infrared wavelengths that are largely absorbed lower in Earth’s atmosphere.

捕捉这些观测结果需要科学家与飞行机组之间的精心协调。在任务开始前，团队计算了当月球阴影穿过北大西洋时飞机所需的位置。

Capturing those observations required careful coordination between scientists and the flight crew. Before the mission, teams calculated where the aircraft needed to be as the Moon’s shadow moved across the North Atlantic.

“执行这样的任务需要一个庞大的团队。首先由科学团队确定需求，然后我们在任务开始前的几个月里与他们密切合作，”NASA WB-57F飞行员Tom Parent说。“我们非常依赖我们的维护团队来对仪器进行维修、准备、装载到飞机上并进行飞行测试。让这样一架飞机升空进行成像并实现这些目标是一项巨大的团队努力。”

“Going into a mission like this takes a huge team. It starts with the science team establishing the requirements, and then we work closely with them for months leading up to the mission,” said Tom Parent, NASA WB-57F pilot. “We rely heavily on our maintenance team to get the instruments serviced, prepared, loaded onto the aircraft, and flight tested. It’s a huge team effort to get an aircraft like this up there to image and achieve these objectives.”

在全食期间，NASA WB-57F飞行员John Gustine将飞机定位在食径（eclipse path）上，以最大限度地延长在月球阴影中的时间，并尽可能多地为科学家提供收集数据的机会。

During totality, NASA WB-57F pilot John Gustine positioned the aircraft along the eclipse path to maximize time in the Moon’s shadow and give scientists as much opportunity as possible to collect data.

在后座，NASA WB-57F的传感器设备操作员Cary Klemm控制着摄像系统，在全食期间跟踪感兴趣的特征的同时，调整焦距和曝光时间（exposure time）。

From the back seat, Cary Klemm, sensor equipment operator for NASA’s WB-57F, controlled the camera systems, adjusting focus and exposure times while tracking features of interest throughout totality.

随着摄像机在短暂的窗口期内捕捉观测结果，每一秒都至关重要。

With the cameras capturing observations throughout the brief window, every second mattered.

“每一张图像都是另一块可能揭示太阳新发现的数据碎片，”Klemm说。

“Every image is another piece of data that could reveal something new about the Sun,” Klemm said.

科学家从这些观测中能学到的东西远远超出了交食本身。太阳日冕是由磁场（magnetic field）塑造的等离子体组成的，许多相同的物理过程也发生在宇宙（universe）的其他地方。

What scientists can learn from those observations reaches far beyond the eclipse itself. The Sun’s corona is made of plasma shaped by magnetic fields, and many of the same physical processes occur elsewhere in the universe.

“NASA WB-57F高空飞行的独特能力在这次交食中至关重要，它提供了获取这些宝贵波长的途径，而这次交食的路径大部分穿过海洋，且该区域云层常见，”位于科罗拉多州博尔德的西南研究所（Southwest Research Institute）该研究的首席研究员Amir Caspi说。“如果没有这个平台，以及许多勇敢的地面、空中和科学机组成员的所有努力，我们就不可能取得这一成功。”

“The NASA WB-57F’s unique capabilities of high-altitude flight were truly crucial in providing access to these valuable wavelengths during an eclipse whose path crossed mostly over the ocean in an area where clouds are common,” said Amir Caspi, principal investigator for the study at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “We could not have achieved this success without this platform, and all of the efforts of the many intrepid ground, air, and science crew members.”

飞行期间收集的数据将为科学家提供另一个研究太阳以及影响地球周围空间环境（space environment）的过程的机会。

The data gathered during the flight will give scientists another opportunity to investigate the Sun and the processes that influence the space environment around Earth.

图注：查看来自NASA交食任务的图像和视频。

View images and videos from NASA’s eclipse mission.