- Jonathan Amos
- science correspondent
image source, Getty Images/After St. Louis Dispatch
The good people of Carbondale can do it again and for a long time
How lucky are the residents of Carbondale, Illinois?
According to celestial mechanics, a total solar eclipse anywhere on Earth's surface should occur on average only once every 375 years.
The Midwestern city's 30,000 residents will probably laugh at this statistic as they are about to witness the moon blocking the sun's disk for the second time in just seven years.
And what's more, the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8th will be even more spectacular than the one we were able to see in 2017. The sky will be completely dark for 4 minutes and 9 seconds, almost twice as long as the previous time.
image source, Getty Images
As many as 200,000 people are expected to flock to major viewing sites in southern Illinois for “The Great American Eclipse Part II.'' But this is also true for all areas along the eclipse's path, from Mexico's Pacific coast to Canada's Atlantic coast. This upcoming event is set to be a big hit.
In 2017, the path of the deepest shadow, “Totality,'' ran from Oregon in the northwestern United States to South Carolina in the southeastern United States. In fact, it covered some of the less populated areas, including many national parks.
In contrast, the 2024 event will cover some of the major U.S. metropolitan areas, including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Buffalo.
“This will be the most populated solar eclipse in the United States, with 31.5 million people experiencing the eclipse just by walking outside their homes,” Dr. Kelly Kolek, the US space agency's solar eclipse program manager, told BBC News. “You can experience it,” he said.
Artwork: A jet plane equipped with NASA instruments chases shadows.
As you might expect, NASA plans to conduct some modest experiments that day, including firing rockets into the moon's shadow to see how it affects Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Jet planes with instruments also track shadows.
“The reason we fly planes is that besides it's really cool, going high up in the atmosphere means we can actually access wavelengths of light that aren't possible from the ground. Because we do,” said Dr. Amir Caspi. Southwest Research Institute.
The 2024 total solar eclipse will begin far out in the Pacific Ocean, with residents of Penrhyn Atoll, part of the Cook Islands, experiencing a darkened sun at dawn at 06:40 CKT (16:40 GMT).
The moon's shadow, or umbral, then moved across the Earth's surface at more than 2,500 km/h (1,500 mph), passing the coast of Mexico at 11:07 MST (18:07 GMT) and crossing Mexico and the Mexican Rio Grande. Cross the border. United States, 13:27 CDT (18:27 GMT).
image source, Getty Images
The journey will pass through 13 US states and enter the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick (16:32 ADT, 19:32 GMT) and Newfoundland (16:39 ADT, 19:39 GMT).
The moon's shadow will rise from the Earth's surface in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,120 km (700 miles) west of Normandy, France, at 21:55 CET (19:55 GMT).
Sorry, Europe. Maybe next time.
A special day: promotional poster by astronomer and artist Tyler Nordgren (Credit: tylernordgren.com)
Many avid skywatchers already have plans in place.
They would have considered transportation and accommodation options and paid close attention to historical weather patterns.
Mexico and Texas have the best chance of avoiding the disruptive clouds. But the truth is, on any given day, in any location, the weather can be a blessing or a blessing. That also applies to Carbondale.
image source, SR Habal and M Druckmuller
Total solar eclipse gives rare opportunity to study the sun's corona
These days, all space telescopes are trained on the Sun, so you might think that solar eclipses provide little knowledge about the Sun.
But total solar eclipses are special because they provide favorable conditions to study the sun's tenuous outer atmosphere, or corona.
The solar wind originates in this magnetized, superheated “gas” of charged particles, from which billions of tons of material can sometimes explode toward Earth, disrupting satellites, communications, and even power grids.
The corona is located on the surface of the Sun, beyond the photosphere. Satellites use devices called coronagraphs to block glare, but coronagraphs are typically so wide that they also block the view of light just above the edge of the star. It is in this zone that the main corona processes occur.
All sides of the corona become accessible only during a solar eclipse, when the moon's disk exactly aligns with the sun's disk.
image source, Aberystwyth University
British and American scientists working to observe solar eclipse
British scientists worked with NASA to deploy the equipment in Dallas. They are equipped with a polarimeter to study the directionality of light in the corona and a spectrometer to study the behavior of excited iron atoms.
Dr Hugh Morgan from Aberystwyth University explained: “During a solar eclipse, nature makes measurements in this region relatively easy, giving us a unique opportunity to see the relationship between the Sun and the solar wind.”
No matter how you choose to view the eclipse, the most important thing is to do so safely.
But you don't have to be a professional scientist to participate in the science of solar eclipses. Many citizen research projects are underway. for example:
- The SunSketcher project needs help measuring the exact shape of the Sun. Yes, it's round, but the pole part is slightly crushed.
- Eclipse Soundscapes records how the natural world, especially animals, reacts when darkness falls. It seems that bees have stopped flying.
- The Globe Observer project needs help recording temperature changes and cloud movement.
- And Eclipse Megamovie will once again use an army of DSLR cameras to capture a wide area of the event.
“Having people involved along the way multiplies the power of these observations, allows observations over longer periods of time, and helps us understand what “We can more accurately relate what's happening and what's changing.”
Go out and have fun. But please do so safely. Do not look at the exposed sun with the naked eye.
Montana and North Dakota will see the end of the total solar eclipse in 2044, but the next total solar eclipse across large swathes of the United States will be the following year.
“It’s special,” Dr. Kolek said. “That’s why you have to experience it.”
