Springfield to NASA: Pennsylvania researchers studied the solar eclipse in our backyard

There was more going on in the skies over Robertson County Monday than just the total solar eclipse.

Some solar eclipse enthusiasts may have noticed a few blinking lights in the darkness during the two minutes and 30-some-odd seconds of totality.

They were attached a high altitude balloon carrying a payload of mini-cameras and computer equipment from a University of Pittsburgh research team, visiting Barren Plains as part of a nationwide NASA Eclipse Ballooning project. 

“This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity for our family, for our kids,” Mary Beth Clark said as she, her husband and their 7-year-old boy/girl twins watched the team, comprised of about a dozen scientists, astronomers and students, fill the balloon with helium in their yard just before noon on Monday. 

Tragedy before triumph

Dubbed the Pitt Shadow Bandits, the researchers had roped off a large section of the Clarks’ yard to keep its entourage of 40-or-so onlookers at bay while they worked and had just tethered the balloon to the ground in advance of its anticipated launch when tragedy struck. 

The balloon popped, something researchers said had never happened before in trial runs. During the brief announcement that followed, they blamed the hiccup on a “bad balloon” and quickly brought in a replacement, which later launched as planned.

During the eclipse, footage from the Shadow Bandits’ balloon was live-streamed to a public website as part of the NASA ballooning project, which included 55 teams from 30 states set up in 30 different locations along the path of totality.

The balloon rose until it reached the edge of space and popped, officials explained. The payload of cameras and equipment it carried fell back to Earth, where it was recovered less than four miles from the original launch site, Mary Beth Clark said.

Payload data vital for research 

The group planned to study a phenomenon known as shadow bands, or wavering bands of light and darkness that appear on the ground around the time of a total eclipse, according to information provided to the media from the university.

It’s theorized, but unproven, that shadow bands are caused by atmospheric turbulence that's invisible in normal daylight, University of Pittsburgh Department of Physics and Astronomy faculty member Russell Clark said in the media release.

The team planned to compare observations from light sensors on the balloon with observations on the ground during totality.

They had been preparing for Monday’s eclipse for more than a year, conducting test flights and tweaking the timing on their equipment, before they arrived in Springfield on Aug. 18.

They found the Clark home about two months earlier, Mary Beth Clark said.

A happy coincidence

A five-year-resident of Barren Plains, Clark said she was out walking her dog when two men came into her driveway and asked if they could use her yard for their experiment.

“Of course, I deferred to my husband and said I would let them know,” she said. “And, after getting a legitimate email from the University of Pittsburgh … we told them, ‘yes, come, feel free, make yourselves at home.’ 

“It’s been great.”

On Sunday, the group spent most of the day setting up equipment in her yard, Clark said. She noted that the activity did not go unnoticed.

“We had random people stopping by, asking about it,” she said. “There was someone from Maryland and a car from Lewisburg (Tenn.). How these people ended up on Highway 161 in Barren Plains, of all places, I don’t know, but it’s been interesting.”

During the eclipse, the Clark family’s nearest neighbors set up a viewing party across the street from the researchers. Many of the onlookers and some of the researchers on the Clark property would take breaks to check on the sun through solar eclipse glasses, which were handed out for free once activity began in the sky.

The onsite group was mostly made up of the researchers’ families and hailed from Texas, New York and several other states.

Reach Nicole Young at 615-306-3570 or nyoung@tennessean.com.