Nature 246, 72 - 74 (09 November 1973); doi:10.1038/246072a0

Eclipse Flight of Concorde 001

J. BECKMAN^*, J. BEGOT^†, P. CHARVIN^‡, D. HALL^§, P. LENA, A. SOUFFLOT, D. LIEBENBERG^¶ & P. WRAIGHT^$

^*Queen Mary College, Mile End Road, London
^†Institut d'Astrophysique, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris
^‡Institut National Astronomic et Geophysique, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon
^§Kitt Peak National Observatory, PO Box 4130, Tucson, Arizona
Université Paris VII, Observatoire de Meudon, 92190 Meudon
^¶Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, Los Alamos, New Mexico
^$University of Aberdeen

On June 30, 1973, Concorde 001 intercepted the path of a solar eclipse over North Africa, Flying at Mach 2.05 the aircraft provided seven observers from France, Britain and the United States with 74 min of totality bounded by extended second (7 min) and third (12 min) contacts. The former permitted searches for time variations of much longer period than previously possible and the latter provided an opportunity for chromospheric observations of improved height resolution. The altitude, which varied between 16,200 and 17,700 m, freed the observations from the usual weather problems and greatly reduced atmospheric absorption and sky noise in regions of the infrared.