Shadow bands reframe eclipse mystery with new data
CNN reports on shadow bands—the faint light-and-dark ripples around total solar eclipses—where scientists testing its cause found in 2017 that a 4.5 Hz signal appeared both on the ground and at high altitude, suggesting diffraction-interference may play a role alongside turbulence. The 2024 eclipse, despite more sensitive sensors, didn’t reveal shadow bands due to cloud cover, and aircraft data likewise failed to reproduce the signal, leaving the mechanism unresolved. With a future eclipse approaching, researchers and citizen scientists plan new measurements from Spain and elsewhere, using simple observation setups to help settle the question.