On April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the continental United States — the first since 2017 and the last until Aug. 12, 2045. During totality, or the moment at which the Moon is completely covering the Sun, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona, and other prominences become visible to the naked eye. Scientists often use total solar eclipses as a chance to observe and study the Sun’s corona, and their results contribute to our understanding of stellar dynamics and solar storms and how they affect Earth.
In the months and weeks leading up to a total solar eclipse, scientists will often use supercomputers and other models to generate a model of what the Sun’s corona will look like during the eclipse. For the April 8 eclipse, scientists from Predictive Science used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft to predict the structure of the Sun’s corona on April 8. Furthermore, to ensure that their model is up-to-date, the scientists also used NASA’s Electra Supercomputer, which actively updates the team’s model in real-time as new data from SDO is received.