Pittsburgh college students launch weather balloon to prepare for solar eclipse research

WPXI.com News Staff

March 24, 2024 at 8:32 PM·1 min read

Students from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University spent their Sunday preparing for an upcoming solar eclipse.

Faculty members joined them at the Allegheny Observatory as they launched a weather balloon.

The group of students is conducting NASA-funded research on “shadow bands.”

NASA says shadow bands are thin wavy lines of alternating light and and dark that move in parallel surfaces just before a solar eclipse.

The balloon contains a transmitter that helps the students gather data.

“It records data like humidity, temperature, pressure, altitude - those kinds of things and our goal is to see how they change in the hours leading up to the eclipse, during it and right after,” said Peri Schindelheim, a Pitt senior.

The launch on Sunday was just a practice session.

The group will travel to Texas for the April 8th eclipse.

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