Today the world is watching a total solar eclipse — one of the rare moments when nature itself creates an almost perfect solar coronagraph.

And the timing is remarkable: we are near solar maximum, when the Sun’s corona is especially complex and extends in many directions.

The corona is not simply a beautiful halo around the Sun. It is the outer solar atmosphere where magnetic energy is stored and released, giving rise to some of the most powerful manifestations of solar activity: solar flares and giant magnetic clouds of plasma erupting from the Sun.

These events drive space weather, affecting satellites, navigation, communications, and other technological systems in space and on Earth.

We observe the corona every day with space-based coronagraphs. But a natural total eclipse gives us something extraordinary: the Moon precisely blocks the bright solar disk, revealing the corona from its innermost structures to spectacular rays stretching far into the sky. For a few minutes, we can actually see the vast atmosphere of our star with our own eyes.

The image shows the corona predicted for today’s eclipse by Predictive Science — the result of sophisticated data assimilation and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling of the Sun’s magnetic atmosphere.

It is a spectacular sight, but also a glimpse into the physics shaping our technological future.

“Understanding the Sun is not only about our curiosity to explore the world around us. It is also becoming increasingly important for our technological society. The better we understand the physics of our star, the better we can predict space weather and protect the technologies on which modern life depends.”

— Tatiana Podladchikova, Director of the Center for Engineering Systems and Sciences and Head of the Solar Physics and Space Weather Laboratory.