PCC campus outside Mancos will collect data during solar eclipse

The solar eclipse is set to take place Oct. 13. (Unsplash)
Campus in Southwest Colorado is in the path of the eclipse

In October, a team from the University of North Dakota will be at Pueblo Community College’s Southwest campus to take part in data collection during the solar eclipse.

The team will be led by Jared Marquis, Ph.D., in an effort sponsored by the NASA Space Grant Consortium.

On Oct. 12 at 5 p.m., Marquis and his students will host a community event at the campus at 5 p.m., and community members are invited and welcome to attend.

This team, and teams across the county, will launch high-altitude balloons to collect atmospheric data during the total eclipse.

The morning of Oct. 13, the team will begin launching their high-altitude balloons and their data collection. Their work will continue throughout the eclipse’s totality, about 10:30 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 14, and ending Saturday evening.

The team from North Dakota will launch balloons from PCC’s campus because it is on the path of the eclipse, and take “data along the path of totality.”