What do you think?
Rate this book
Scientists in the Field
Eclipse Chaser: Science in the Moon's Shadow
The August 2017 solar eclipse is the chance of a lifetime for astronomer Shadia Habbal—years of planning come down to one moment of totality. Will everything go off as planned?
On August 21, 2017, much of America stood still and looked up as a wide swath of the country experienced totality—a full solar eclipse. Even in areas outside the path of totality, people watched in awe as the moon cast its shadow on the sun. For most, this was simply a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Not so for Shadia Habbal, who travels the world in search of solar eclipses in order to study the sun’s corona. Solar wind and storms originating in the corona can have big effects on our planet. They can disrupt technology, expose aircraft to radiation, and even influence global climate change.
In the months leading up to the 2017 eclipse, Shadia assembles a team of scientists to set up camp with her in Mitchell, Oregon. Years earlier, a long, expensive trip to Indonesia to study an eclipse failed when the skies remained too cloudy to see it. Shadia is determined to have the 2017 eclipse be a success. Will the computers fail? Will smoke from nearby fires change direction? Will the cloudy skies clear in time? Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they count down the months, days, hours, and finally minutes until totality.
On August 21, 2017, much of America stood still and looked up as a wide swath of the country experienced totality—a full solar eclipse. Even in areas outside the path of totality, people watched in awe as the moon cast its shadow on the sun. For most, this was simply a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Not so for Shadia Habbal, who travels the world in search of solar eclipses in order to study the sun’s corona. Solar wind and storms originating in the corona can have big effects on our planet. They can disrupt technology, expose aircraft to radiation, and even influence global climate change.
In the months leading up to the 2017 eclipse, Shadia assembles a team of scientists to set up camp with her in Mitchell, Oregon. Years earlier, a long, expensive trip to Indonesia to study an eclipse failed when the skies remained too cloudy to see it. Shadia is determined to have the 2017 eclipse be a success. Will the computers fail? Will smoke from nearby fires change direction? Will the cloudy skies clear in time? Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they count down the months, days, hours, and finally minutes until totality.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published December 10, 2019
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Ilima Loomis
5 books12 followersIlima Loomis is an award-winning author and writer who's contributed to publications like Science, Discover, Science News for Students, Eos, Astronomy, and Nature. She is based on Maui, Hawaii.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 9, 2020
Another excellent entry in the stellar Scientists in the Field series. This one is geared to an upper elementary/middle school audience and the science writing here is outstanding. Loomis does an outstanding job of explaining the very complex research into the sun's corona to a young reader while never underestimating her audience.
Wrapping the story of the research into the fascinating story of the many expeditions chasing solar eclipses around the planet adds additional interest. There are only so many ways you take pictures of cameras and telescopes pointed at the sky but photographer Amanda Cowan and Loomis manage to make this a dynamic and wonderful book. The images also included of the sun and its corona during the eclipses are stunningly beautiful and help to illustrate the science.
Wrapping the story of the research into the fascinating story of the many expeditions chasing solar eclipses around the planet adds additional interest. There are only so many ways you take pictures of cameras and telescopes pointed at the sky but photographer Amanda Cowan and Loomis manage to make this a dynamic and wonderful book. The images also included of the sun and its corona during the eclipses are stunningly beautiful and help to illustrate the science.
July 29, 2021
Readers get to meet Shadia Habbal who was born in Syria but now works at the University of Hawaii and studies the sun. Most specifically, Shadia is interested in what is going on in the sun's corona, and the best way to study that is during total eclipses when the corona is most easily visible. Readers learn how much we don't really know about the sun, the things that Shadia and her team have uncovered as they chase eclipses, and how hard it is to record data from eclipses thanks to their rarity and being at the mercy of weather.
This is a fascinating read. I taught high school science for a while, but even I learned a whole lot of stuff about the solar science and just how much we don't even fully understand about the sun and what is going on in it. Shadia and her team are uncovering some really interesting things, and new technology is letting them uncover more and more. This will give you a whole new appreciation for the difficulty scientists who study the sun face in their research, and the unique opportunities a total eclipse afford. Highly recommended to middle grade classes studying space science and electromagnetic fields. And of course, a great read right before an eclipse.
No content issues.
This is a fascinating read. I taught high school science for a while, but even I learned a whole lot of stuff about the solar science and just how much we don't even fully understand about the sun and what is going on in it. Shadia and her team are uncovering some really interesting things, and new technology is letting them uncover more and more. This will give you a whole new appreciation for the difficulty scientists who study the sun face in their research, and the unique opportunities a total eclipse afford. Highly recommended to middle grade classes studying space science and electromagnetic fields. And of course, a great read right before an eclipse.
No content issues.
Read
November 21, 2020Another not-to-be-missed, engaging entry to a spectacular series. Beautifully designed with plenty of photos.
December 1, 2019
Summary: In the months leading up to the big solar eclipse in 2017, astronomer Shadia Habbal spent her time assembling a team of scientists to study the eclipse. The book goes through the processes of how they prepare to study the eclipse and what a full solar eclipse is.
Evaluation: This book is interesting because it gives the astronomers point of view. Most students won’t remember the 2017 eclipse and many wont ever experience and eclipse, but they will see pictures that scientists and astronomers provide. I liked that this book explains to the students how they get those pictures and the amount of work and planning that goes into studying these phenomena.
Teaching Idea: Since this is a science book, I would incorporate it into a reading in the content lesson. After reading about eclipses and the moon phases, I would have the students participate in a hands-on activity. For the moon phases, students will be given Oreos to represent the moon. They will then bite or scrape the cream off of the cookie to duplicate the moon phases and line them up on a paper plate. Once they have completed it, they will have a visual of all of the moon phases and they have the fun of working with food.
Evaluation: This book is interesting because it gives the astronomers point of view. Most students won’t remember the 2017 eclipse and many wont ever experience and eclipse, but they will see pictures that scientists and astronomers provide. I liked that this book explains to the students how they get those pictures and the amount of work and planning that goes into studying these phenomena.
Teaching Idea: Since this is a science book, I would incorporate it into a reading in the content lesson. After reading about eclipses and the moon phases, I would have the students participate in a hands-on activity. For the moon phases, students will be given Oreos to represent the moon. They will then bite or scrape the cream off of the cookie to duplicate the moon phases and line them up on a paper plate. Once they have completed it, they will have a visual of all of the moon phases and they have the fun of working with food.
March 31, 2024
3/31/2024 ~ This book is fascinating, and it appears to be out of print. I hope that the total solar eclipse of 2024 sparks some curiosity on the part of students and causes the publisher to reprint this book.
It tells of the logistics and science behind taking a team or multiple teams out to photograph the sun during a solar eclipse. The Solar Wind Sherpas, led by Dr. Shadia R. Habbal have made scientific expeditions to more than a dozen eclipses, including sites across the globe. This book has photos of the massive cameras and other instruments used to study the sun's corona during an eclipse. It also mentions the roles of physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer coders in this process.
This book will help kids who experienced the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse deepen their understanding of the science behind the event.
It tells of the logistics and science behind taking a team or multiple teams out to photograph the sun during a solar eclipse. The Solar Wind Sherpas, led by Dr. Shadia R. Habbal have made scientific expeditions to more than a dozen eclipses, including sites across the globe. This book has photos of the massive cameras and other instruments used to study the sun's corona during an eclipse. It also mentions the roles of physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer coders in this process.
This book will help kids who experienced the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse deepen their understanding of the science behind the event.
June 9, 2021
Loomis follows Syrian-born Shadia Habbal as she chases eclipses all around the world in order to study and get images of the sun's corona. This fascinating book focuses on the 2017 total eclipse that crossed the US from the west to the east. Shadia, who now works for the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, arranged for several teams to set up in several of the locations along the eclipse path to take photos of the corona. She and her team set up in the small town of Mitchell, Oregon. The book is illustrated with many captioned photos. In between each chapter are a couple of pages of additional information about the sun, its atmosphere, and its corona. The book concludes with a glossary, index, and short bibliography, A worthy addition to the series.
July 9, 2025
Amanda Cowan's illustrations will bring in the readers for this amazing book about eclipse scientists and how they accomplish the gathering of information to better understand eclipses. Ilima Loomis' 5 chapters filled with details about the planning and execution of eclipse studies over decades and chock full of absolutely breathtaking photo illustrations with captions and maps or sketches to break up the details of scientific study. The Scientist in the Field series is consistently so very good at engaging my students in what they could do in the field of their choice. There is so much diversity in this series and so many fields of science to discuss with eager young science lovers. I am very happy to add this one to my collection.
November 6, 2022
A nonfiction book that works for a middle grade audience introducing readers to a team of scientists to set up camp in the United States during the eclipse to capture the fantastic images and as much data as they could related to the eclipse itself to further study it.
Focused on the team of researchers it also gives you basic knowledge of various eclipses and how they work and how often they happen as well as the corona, the outside edges of the sun that appear during the eclipse and how hot it is.
It was narratively well-written but wasn't captivating the way I've read some other science nonfiction, but it balances the science and the research well.
Focused on the team of researchers it also gives you basic knowledge of various eclipses and how they work and how often they happen as well as the corona, the outside edges of the sun that appear during the eclipse and how hot it is.
It was narratively well-written but wasn't captivating the way I've read some other science nonfiction, but it balances the science and the research well.
February 12, 2020
I enjoyed learning more about how scientists use eclipses to learn more! I also enjoyed reliving the Great American Eclipse of 2017.
March 6, 2024
All about the 2017 solar eclipse with scientists ready to study it. It’s has nice explanations but more a journal.
March 10, 2024
Amazing! I never knew so much research was, or could be, conducted during an eclipse. I can't wait to see another one (but I guess I'll have to!).
April 18, 2024
Very timely and informative overview of solar eclipses. Count me in as an official eclipse chaser!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews