In astronomy, we have a common saying: “good luck, and clear skies”. For an eclipse chaser like me, this is especially important. We have two minutes and no second chance – one small cloud can spoil everything.

Thousands of tourists turn up to see them, along with a few dozen scientists, for which the eclipse is a unique opportunity to observe the extended atmosphere of the sun – known as the solar corona. Just like Earth, the sun has an atmosphere and magnetic field which extends out to large distances into space. The solar corona is an intense plasma of separated ...