On this day in space .. The discovery of helium for the first time during a total solar eclipse

The French astronomer Pierre-Jules Cesar Janssen discovered helium during the observation and observation of the total solar eclipse in India, that day there has more than a century, August 18, 1868.

During the eclipse, Jansen used a spectroscope to examine the spectrum of light emitted by the sun, according to the US website.

This tool allows scientists to identify the elements to see and, while observing the solar protrusion during the eclipse, Jansen noticed a bright yellow line that does not match any of the elements, c & # 39; that is, that has not yet been discovered on Earth.

This discovery was confirmed thirteen years later, when the Italian physicist Luigi Palmieri discovered the first trace of helium on Earth in the Vesuvian lava.