Chasing Darkness: NASA Jet Aviators Race the Total Solar Eclipse at 50,000 Feet
When standing on the ground to watch a total solar eclipse for 2 minutes just isn't enough, NASA's solution is simple: commandeer a high-altitude research jet and chase the Moon's shadow at 50,000 feet.
For the August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse, NASA deployed high-altitude WB-57 aircraft out of Keflavík International Airport in Iceland. Cruising above 90% of Earth's atmosphere, scientists captured unprecedented high-speed infrared photos of the solar corona without atmospheric haze or cloud cover getting in the way.
✈️ Fast Math for Eclipse Hunters:
The Moon's shadow moves across Earth at over 2,000 mph. While a jet flying at 460 mph can't outrun the shadow, cruising along its trajectory adds nearly an entire extra minute of scientific totality!
Why Fly at 50,000 Feet?
Up in the stratosphere, atmospheric interference drops to near zero. Mounted inside the WB-57's specialized nose cone, scientific cameras snapped over 20 images per second to study solar coronal heating and mysterious nanoflares.
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