People around the globe will be able to watch live images of a total solar eclipse in central New Brunswick next month thanks to a project spearheaded by a retired physicist.
“The last time central New Brunswick had a total solar eclipse was 932, more than 1,000 years ago,” explained David Hunter of Florenceville, who, along with a team of N.B. scientists, has built a solar eclipse balloon that will be launched during the eclipse on April 8.
The weather balloon will be attached to a payload equipped with a series of rotating cameras that will capture images of the eclipse at an altitude of 30 kilometres, far above the clouds, Hunter said.
“We can get a good panoramic view of the planet and the earth during the eclipse and especially see the shadow of the moon approaching us,” he said.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Hunter, who has been fascinated with science and astronomy since he was a little boy.
He recalls when he and his family travelled to Nova Scotia to see a total solar eclipse and was left disappointed by the weather.
“In March 1970, and I got there, my parents took me there and it was cloudy, which was a big disappointment,” he said.
The missed opportunity haunted him throughout his career as a medical physicist. He started the project three years ago.
Now retired, Hunter is back home in New Brunswick, the centreline for the next total solar eclipse for the first time in a millennium.
He is determined not to let those pesky clouds rob him of another cosmic opportunity.
A series of elaborate cameras that rotate to keep the sun in view will snap photos.
“All of the the computers and cameras that we have on our payload here the images are being radioed down to the ground live as it happens,” Hunter said.
He said that anyone in the world can tune in live to witness the spectacular snapshots being beamed back to earth.
Tom Hunter, part of the launch crew, said with two successful test flights in check, “it is amazing.”
“It is such a unique opportunity to do something, and it is never going to happen in our lifetimes again,” he said.
The only thing that may keep the balloon grounded is high winds. Both men are keeping their fingers crossed that Mother Nature is on board for launch day April 8.
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