Solar Gazing

When the sun went behind the moon during the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, physics professor John Sohl and his High Altitude Reconnaissance Balloon for Outreach and Research (HARBOR) team were hard at work. 

Situated near Rexburg, Idaho, where the eclipse was 100 percent, the team launched balloons, loaded with cameras and equipment to the edge of space. 

They were part of a NASA-funded study to capture the event on video and measure the atmosphere, with a special focus on ozone. 

WSU is working with Salt Lake County’s Clark Planetarium to produce the video for global distribution to planetariums. 

“I’ve never witnessed a total solar eclipse before; the spectacle was jaw-dropping,” Sohl said. “We had arranged to have all science hardware automated during the time of totality, so we could just enjoy the eclipse. That was a good thing because it was so amazing that we wouldn't have been able to tear ourselves away from the view.”