Starship Asterisk*

The total solar eclipse’s swath across Wyoming and the United States in August 2017 provided an opportunity for scientists to study a variety of celestial and earthly phenomena, from learning more about the sun’s corona to the behavior of animals and plants.

University of Wyoming botany and hydrology doctoral student Daniel Beverly used the eclipse to examine the impact of the moon’s shadow on an iconic plant species of Wyoming and the Intermountain West: big sagebrush. He found that the short period of darkness caused a significant reduction in photosynthesis and transpiration in the desert shrub, but not quite to the levels of nighttime.

Additionally, the circadian rhythm -- the response to the internal clock common to nearly all organisms including humans -- was interrupted by the sudden changes in sunlight beyond typical cloud cover. ...

• Scientific Reports 9:8839 (20 Jun 2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45400-y