Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative

In visible wavelengths of light, the Sun’s surface is much brighter than its corona. During a total solar eclipse, however, observers can see the corona – and scientists can investigate how solar material moves out from the Sun to form the solar wind, an ever-flowing particle stream that impacts Earth and our entire solar system.

The Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative, led by Bob Baer and Matt Penn of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, organizes volunteers as they capture images of the corona during the 2024 eclipse. Using identical instruments at more than 70 different locations across North America, participants document the moment-by-moment appearance of the corona throughout the eclipse. Comparing these images across locations, scientists track plumes of solar material in the difficult-to-study inner corona, estimating their speed and rate of acceleration and linking these observations to those from NASA spacecraft.

The project expands on the team’s efforts during the 2017 total solar eclipse, this time including observation sites outside the path of totality, where part of the solar disk will remain visible. Images from these locations will reveal the source of solar material later observed as outflows in the corona, allowing the team to trace them back to their origins on the Sun.

DEB Initiative is one of many participatory science projects happening during the 2024 total solar eclipse. Click here to learn more.