Texas A&M Faculty, Students Lead Citizen Science Initiative During Rare Solar Eclipse Event

On April 8, students across the Texas A&M University campus paused their studies to witness a rare spectacle — the Great American Solar Eclipse. This extraordinary event, in which the moon completely obscured the sun, swept across a large swath of the United States, making for a memorable day for millions within the path of totality that stretched from Texas through the Midwest to Maine. 

Although Aggieland experienced only 99% totality, Texas A&M students, faculty and staff were able to take in the longest and darkest total solar eclipse in the US since the early 19th century. By contrast, the most recent total solar eclipse visible in Bryan-College Station in 2017 resulted in about 70% totality. By any standard, however, the remarkable occurrence was a unique opportunity, given that the next total solar eclipse visible from the US won’t occur until 2044. 

The nationwide event was extra special for 12 Aggies who had dedicated nearly a year to preparing for #SolarEclipse2024 Day by coordinating a national citizen-run experiment. The Citizen Continental America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) 2024 project, backed by funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), deployed 35 telescope setups along the path of totality, each manned by groups of community scientists. 

Faculty and students from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences played a crucial role in co-organizing the citizen science project, an impressive collaborative effort involving academic institutions, high schools and community organizations nationwide. The initiative aimed to spark interest in learning about telescopes and eclipses, engaging the broader community and their curiosity about the eclipse phenomenon.

This story source was originally published by Texas A&M Arts & Sciences.