Astronomer to capture rare eclipse in Texas

An astronomer is hoping to capture a rare full solar eclipse and stream it to viewers across the world.

Ellie MacDonald, of Hexham, Northumberland, will travel to Texas for the eclipse, which will turn the skies above the US dark on 8 April.

The eclipse can only be viewed in a band of sky running from south to north America and is unlikely to appear again for two decades.

The last full solar eclipse visible in the US was in 2017, but for the UK it was in 1999, when it was visible from parts of Cornwall.

This will be Ms MacDonald's first solar eclipse.

The 26-year-old, a science communicator and science lead at Kielder Observatory, will livestream the event online so others can enjoy it.

She said: "Everyone says how amazing it was in 1999 and a lot of people remember going to see it in Cornwall.

"Hopefully the livestream will be the next best thing."

The eclipse will last for up to four minutes.

Texas was chosen as a destination for the trip due to the likelihood of clear skies.

As well as livestreaming the eclipse for the observatory, Ms MacDonald will be attempting to recreate astronomer Arthur Eddington’s experiment to show that light rays from distant stars are bent near massive objects like the sun, providing evidence for Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Dan Monk, director of astrophotography at Kielder, said: “Everybody loves chasing eclipses.

"We have partial solar eclipses every couple of years, and we can see them from the UK, but total eclipses are rare."

He said the Kielder team were "thrilled" that Ms MacDonald would be "sharing the wonder of this incredible cosmic event".

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