SC researchers will use eclipse to study this potential danger for Earth

A potential danger for Earth and one of the biggest questions surrounding the sun will get a serious look on Aug. 21 during the first total solar eclipse in 38 years.

The question: Why is the corona — the crown of gases fuming from the sun — so much hotter than its core?

The study isn’t just a product of curiosity. Solar flares — giant plumes of gas that storm through space — emit from the corona and can strike out at Earth, posing a serious danger, according to researchers.

On Aug. 21, a group of researchers, including some from Clemson University, Lander University, Coker College, South Carolina State University and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical University in South Carolina, will use telescopes to record images that will be used for research, according to the Charleston Post and Courier.

“Images and data from as many as millions of people will be collected and analyzed by scientists for years,” Carrie Black, a National Science Foundation program director, told the Post and Courier.

A large enough storm created by the solar flares could create power surges that would wreak havoc on the electric power grid, disable communication systems and satellites, among other damage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The event would cause the technological world to go dark. Cell phones wouldn’t work. Lights wouldn’t turn on. Computers couldn’t connect online, the Charleston Post and Courier reported.

Researchers hope to the solar eclipse will help them understand solar storms better, so they can learn how to deal with them in the future.

Along with the flares, scientists will also use the eclipse to study the ionosphere, the farthest stretch of Earth’s outer atmosphere that is charged with solar radiation. Solar storms in that stretch can affect radio waves, so researchers plan to record the sudden drop in solar radiation during the eclipse, according to the Post and Courier.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 10:19 AM with the headline "SC researchers will use eclipse to study this potential danger for Earth."