How the supersonic Concorde jet broke the document for the longest complete photo voltaic eclipse in historical past

Flying a aircraft into the moon’s shadow throughout a complete photo voltaic eclipse is a sizzling matter because of the upcoming photo voltaic eclipse. JSX has a devoted eclipse flight over Dallas, and each United Airways and Delta have lengthy bought out tickets for scheduled flights by way of the path of totality on journeys from Texas to the Northeast.

However none will come near attaining what Concorde 001 did on June 30, 1973, when it raced the moon’s shadow alongside the Tropic of Most cancers throughout a complete photo voltaic eclipse.

Flying at 55,000 ft (17,000 meters), the world’s quickest supersonic jet prolonged the period of totality from a most of seven minutes, 4 seconds on the bottom to a shocking 74 minutes.

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For the seven observers from France, Britain and the U.S., the flight broke the document for the longest complete photo voltaic eclipse in human historical past. With the supersonic jet lengthy retired from service, Concorde’s historic 1973 flight stays legendary for eclipse chasers.

File-breaking flight

a person inspects equipment while wearing a long sleeved shirt.

An engineer checks gadgets contained in the Concorde 001 prototype on June 25, 1973, earlier than the whole photo voltaic eclipse over Africa. (Picture credit score: AFP by way of Getty Photos))

On June 30, 1973, Concorde took off from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, within the Spanish Canary Islands.

The trail of totality that day was about 156 miles (251 kilometers) extensive the place Concorde intercepted it, with the moon’s shadow transferring at about 1,500 mph (2,400 km/h). Concorde flew at 1,350 mph (2,200 km/h) — Mach 2 — alongside the trail of totality in the identical path because the moon’s shadow, thereby maintaining with it so long as potential.

The scientists on board got here from Los Alamos Nationwide Laboratory, the Paris Observatory, the Kitt Peak Nationwide Observatory, Queen Mary College of London, the College of Aberdeen, and the French Nationwide Middle for Scientific Analysis.

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Concorde 001 was modified only for them, with rooftop portholes created for statement gear. The additional-long totality allowed these scientists to check the solar’s corona, its chromosphere and the depth of the solar’s mild from above a lot of Earth’s ambiance.

Concorde lands after successful flight, with mechanism in tail showing parachute has been deployed and released from rear of aircraft.

Concorde prototype 001 flies for the primary time at Toulouse Airport in France on March 2, 1969. (Picture credit score: Tony Eyles/Mirrorpix/Getty Photos)

“We intercepted the totality and stayed inside it for 74 minutes earlier than descending and touchdown within the African nation of Chad,” Donald Liebenberg, a scientist from Los Alamos Nationwide Laboratory who was on board the flight, wrote for NBC News. “At 74 minutes, our group aboard the Concorde set a document for the period of time spent in totality that has by no means been damaged. It was an expertise I’ll always remember.”

Concorde took off at 1008 GMT and raced above Mauritania because the moon’s shadow caught up with it. Over the subsequent 4 minutes, it flew throughout the Sahara in Mali, Nigeria and Niger earlier than the moon’s shadow overtook it. It landed in Chad.

Along with experiencing the lengthy totality, the scientists noticed a seven-minute “first contact” and a 12-minute “third contact” — the start and finish of the eclipse when viewers on the bottom see a short show of Baily’s beads and the “diamond ring impact.”

The 1973 flight wasn’t the final time Concorde entered the moon’s shadow throughout a complete photo voltaic eclipse. Twenty-six years later, on Aug. 11, 1999, three Concordes — one from France and two from the U.Ok. — entered the moon’s shadow, carrying vacationers, as documented by French eclipse expert Xavier Jubier. Every paid $2,400 ($4,457 in today’s dollars), although totality lasted solely 4 or 5 minutes, in contrast with about two minutes on the bottom. Nevertheless, the passengers had issues seeing totality for greater than 30 seconds due to the small home windows and the solar’s peak.

It is a reminder that intercepting the moon’s shadow in a aircraft is not straightforward.

Remaining journey

The 1999 journeys have been Concorde’s final into the trail of totality. After the deadly crash of Air France Flight 4590 on July 25, 2000, simply after takeoff, a deliberate eclipse flight on June 21, 2001, was canceled.

Probably the most profitable eclipse flight in recent times was E-Flight 2019-MAX, which on July 2, 2019, doubled the totality period from 4 minutes, 32 seconds to 9 minutes. On board the LATAM Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner have been 43 eclipse chasers, every of whom had paid $6,750.

Eclipse flights proceed to spark the creativeness, however it is going to be a very long time till it is potential to surpass Concorde 001’s 1973 achievement.

Submit your photographs! When you seize a photograph of the April 8 complete photo voltaic eclipse and want to share it with Area.com’s readers, ship photographs, movies, feedback, and your identify, location and content material utilization permission launch to spacephotos@house.com.

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How the supersonic Concorde jet broke the document for the longest complete photo voltaic eclipse in historical past

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