April 16, 2025 — As a total solar eclipse passed over the U.S. on April 8, 2024, 36 teams of community scientists assembled along the path of totality from Texas to Maine, creating a “bucket brigade” of small telescopes to image the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. This Southwest Research Institute-led Citizen CATE 2024 project is the subject of a new documentary, created by the National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR), which will debut at the Mesa Lab in Boulder, Colorado, on April 23.
“Total solar eclipses are relatively rare, offering unique opportunities for scientists to study the hot atmosphere above the Sun’s visible surface,” said SwRI’s Dr. Amir Caspi, principal investigator of the project. “But more than that, through CATE 2024, the eclipse offered a bonding experience between scientists and communities along the path, sharing in this incredible awe-inspiring event. We hope the public experienced a new interest in, and appreciation of, the Sun and its mysteries.”
Titled Gathered in Darkness, the 26-minute film follows the community volunteers that collected over 47,000 images of the corona. The resulting data are allowing scientists to better understand the light coming from the Sun as well as gain a better sense of the structure of the solar corona.
“It’s not a small task to condense a large-scale project into less than half an hour, but I’m really excited about the end result,” said Daniel Zietlow, NSF NCAR educational designer and the documentary’s filmmaker. “While the film covers what the CATE 2024 project is and the importance of science and data collection, it more importantly follows the community scientists who were involved in the project. We see how they prepared, their perspectives on solar eclipses, what it's like being involved in a community science project and their reactions to the eclipse itself.”
After the screening, attendees can hear from Zietlow, Caspi and other project scientists from SwRI and NSF NCAR, as well as get a sneak peek at some of the data collected. This celebratory in-person event can also be attended virtually. All attendees are asked to pre-register and get their tickets soon as the event is expected to sell out.
The CATE 2024 program was jointly funded by NSF and NASA.
What: Film premiere of Gathered in Darkness, a documentary about the Citizen CATE 2024 mission
When: Wednesday, April 23, 2025, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. MDT
Where: NSF NCAR Mesa Lab (1850 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO) and virtual
Who: Ages 12+
Cost: Free
For more information, visit Heliophysics or contact Deb Schmid, +1 210 522 2254, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238-5166.