---
title: "Students to Greet Eclipse—at 80,000 Feet"
date: 2024-04-08T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/students-to-greet-eclipse-at-80-000-feet"
section: Articles
---
# Students to Greet Eclipse—at 80,000 Feet

*April 8, 2024* — by [Robert Herschbach](/author/robert-herschbach)


> Balloons to Be Released in Indiana to Capture Data on Daytime Darkness

*Ns122 7404 mccrea 1920x1080 — Students in the Balloon Payload Program, known as UMD Nearspace, prepare to launch two balloons during an annular eclipse in October 2023, from a launch site in Concan, TX. On Monday, the group will conduct a similar balloon launch near Muncie, Ind., in the path of a total solar eclipse. Below, one of the balloons rises into the Texas sky.*

A caravan of 30 University of Maryland undergraduates, two graduate students and two faculty members, as well as friends and family are part of the nationwide wave of skywatchers traveling to an ideal spot to experience Monday’s total eclipse. But they’ve also descended on the outskirts of Muncie, Indiana with a scientific mission, one involving a pair of high-flying balloons.

As part of NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP), the Terps are among students from 75 colleges and schools who have fanned out to locations in 13 states along the path of totality.

Students in the Balloon Payload Program, known as UMD Nearspace, will launch their two high-altitude weather balloons within 15 minutes of each other at the beginning of the eclipse. They’ll soar to between 70,000 and 80,000 feet high during totality.


*weather balloon in the sky*



**Sidebar note:**

**Watch the Eclipse on Campus** The new moon will start to cross the face of the sun at 2:04 p.m. and obscure 87% of the sun at maximum eclipse, which occurs at 3:20 p.m. The eclipse ends at 4:33 p.m.

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, Department of Astronomy; and Space Sciences Outreach Cooperative will host a watch party outside Glenn L. Martin Hall from 1:30-4:30 p.m. Free solar eclipse glasses that meet ISO standards will be available until supplies run out. In the case of inclement weather, the event will move inside the Physical Sciences Complex lobby to watch a live webcast from within the path of totality.

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Women in Engineering will host a Maryland Dairy ice cream social and viewing party with free eclipse glasses from 2-4 p.m. on the Martin Hall patio. Rain location is the Martin Hall lobby.





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)