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This year's observation was exceptional not only in terms of the amount of the data obtained (the team saved about 3 TB), but also in the number of devices used. A total of 41 different devices were deployed at four observation sites in Chile and Argentina, most of them were new. “The expedition had only 120 to 140 seconds to research the Sun - just as long as a total solar eclipse over Chile and Argentina took. The focus of the research, as in the last ten years, was the research of iron, nickel and argon ions in the solar corona. This research was made possible by a unique set of devices, which is the only one in the world and thanks to the dedication of my colleague Pavel Štarha, this year's eclipse has been greatly improved, both in terms of hardware and software,” Miloslav Druckmüller said.

3D printing technology has also helped to improve the research team at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. “Instead of using traditional machining methods, I designed some parts of the construction and parts of the devices in a CAD system, printed them out and then folded the parts together with aluminum components into a functional unit. The development took me a whole year when I worked with various prototypes and tested their functionality,” Pavel Štarha added.

There were no problems before and during the eclipse and the sharp tests of the new chilled cameras, the polarized light sensing mechanics and the newly developed control software were successful for the expedition. The result is 3 TB of data that was retrieved. "A large amount of data is gradually producing images of the solar corona showing the complex structure of the magnetic field of the sun, the temperature distribution in the corona and providing other valuable information about the sun," Miloslav Druckmüller explained. Mathematics and computers play a crucial role here. This is primarily the work of Miloslav Druckmüller, who has been dealing with numerical methods of digital image analysis for more than 20 years and among other things, teaches these methods to students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, BUT. “These are not photographs in the classical sense. The image of the solar corona from this year's eclipse was created by complex mathematical processing of 129 images with exposures of 0.001 to 1.024 s,” Professor Druckmüller said.

The eleventh expedition to a solar eclipse was funded by the University of Hawaii, which also supplied some equipment. Even during the expedition itself, the mathematicians from Brno cooperate very closely with the representatives of the Institute for Astronomy from the University of Hawaii. The German enthusiast and renowned optician Peter Aniol also supported the expedition with finance and top-level equipment. In preparation for this year's expedition, transportation was one of the most challenging parts. The team sent the equipment weighing approximately two tons to South America.

Brno mathematicians and their American colleagues observed the phenomenon in four places - the main observation site was located in the city of Rodeo in Argentina, the other was in Chile at the Cerro Tololo Observatory, the Mamalluca Observatory and the deserted top of the mountain near the village of Tres Cruses. Mamalluca's observation site was unplanned. The researchers had to move to them because of bad weather, which made it impossible to travel to the originally planned observation site in Mascasino, Argentina.

Another total solar eclipse will happen again in Chile and Argentina at the end of next year, this time about a thousand kilometres to the south. “The preparations for this expedition have already stsrted. Part of the equipment that will not be upgraded has remained in Santiago, Chile, which will save Hawaii University considerable money. The team from the Institute of Mathematics will not be missing again,” Miloslav Druckmüller said.

Although every expedition is accompanied by many months of preparation and great stress, FMI mathematicians agree that the eclipse itself is worthwhile, as it allows us to gather a lot of information about the Sun that cannot yet be obtained otherwise, even with space probes.

Professor Druckmüller's work also attracted Czech filmmakers who began shooting a documentary about him two years ago called Helios. The premiere is planned for the next year.