Hinckley ARES welcomed Dr Lucie Green to their club night, via teams, to give a presentation on how she and her team are planning on using a space craft orbiting the earth to study the suns “corona” during a total eclipse.
The presentation started at 19:30 with Dr Green giving a short talk on what happens during a total eclipse of the sun, and how sort a window the science teams have to get images to allow them to learn what is happening in the suns atmosphere, this is easier to see due to the light from the sun itself being blocked out and not causing a bright circle blocking the view. With the explanation on seeing plasma and CME’s erupting through the corona and how through history the scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries did this with drawings, moving on through to the modern coronagraph’s 
that are used today.
She then went on to introduce the MESOM mission that is currently being worked on and developed. This will be a space craft that orbits close to the earth and moon, using the moon to create the eclipse of the sun allowing the corona to be viewed more in depth and over a longer period. There is potential for the amateur radio community to get involved with this project as it moves along, assisting with monitoring the spacecraft on its orbit.
A fascinating talk, and one that would certainly go down well at the RSGB Convention.