Totality will only *last for a little over three minutes, and while that’s a pretty solid duration for an eclipse, it’s not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things.
from Every Soul a Star
written by Wendy Mass
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008
*for me, two minutes and 32 seconds
On August 21, 2017, the moon’s shadow blocked about 80% of the sun in my part of Ohio. This maximum coverage was reached at 2:33 pm, and I was watching. With my protective glasses in my pocket, I walked across the street where our local university’s astronomy department had set up telescopes.
An epically long line was growing by the moment, so I queued up. I knew I could just look up and see the phenomenon of my life, so, after several minutes in line, I asked the person next to me what we were waiting for. Special glasses, I was told.
Well, imagine that! I was pre-prepared! I stepped out of line and headed for the telescopes. What looked to me like a grad student explained that the image in the telescope would appear upside down. I don’t remember why, but sure enough, it was true. I watched a dark crescent shape begin its journey, PacMan-like, across the sun’s surface. I did not stay at the telescope for the hour and a half it took to make its way toward the 80% obscuration and then the other hour and a half till the sun fully shone again.
I watched for a while. I lay back on the grass and had a magnificent view. Lots of people were there, but there was plenty of room for everyone.
Granted, 80% is not even remotely close to totality, but I was pretty excited even at that partial eclipse.
The next eclipse will be totally different for me, though. I’m lucky to live very close to the path of totality. I can travel just several miles to see the moon’s shadow obliterate the sun for two minutes and 32 seconds.
I tried to find out in my own over-simplified way what will happen one week from today, April 8, 2024.
There are times when the moon, in its orbit around Earth, passes between Earth and the sun during Earth’s own orbit around the sun.
When the moon, and Earth are in perfect alignment with the sun as they continue to travel around and around each other, an eclipse can occur. It is the shadow of the moon as it crosses between Earth and the sun that causes the sun to become eclipsed. From the Ancient Greek, ekleipsis, the sun is briefly blotted out.
This link will take you to a diagram drawn by NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/solar-eclipse-diagram/
Here’s the rest of the explanation from Every Soul a Star quoted at the top of this post.
“The only reason we can see an eclipse is because the moon and the sun happen to look the exact same size from earth. But really, the moon is 400 times smaller. It’s just that coincidentally, the sun is 400 times as far away as the moon, so they look the same size to us.”
Wendy Mass continues, “[a]n eclipse can only happen when the moon is in the new moon phase, when we can’t see the sun reflecting off of it. So it’s like looking for something invisible.”
The moon’s orbit around Earth causes it to sometimes come between the sun and Earth. As the moon travels around Earth, the sun lights up different portions of it. From Earth, it looks like the moon waxes and wanes, but really what we see is the sun shining on different parts of the moon's surface.
When the moon is between the sun and Earth, it seems like the moon has disappeared. It’s during this New Moon phase, when the moon is out there but we can’t see it, that the shadow cast by the sun onto the moon makes it seem invisible. Because the moon’s orbit around Earth is tilted relative to Earth’s orbit around the sun, the New Moon phase usually passes below or above the sun and its shadow misses Earth.
It’s those few times when their perfect alignment causes a solar eclipse, and fewer times still, when the path of the eclipse passes directly over where I’ll be able to see its totality (for two minutes and 32 seconds).
At the approach of totality, a few stunning, unforgettable displays might be observed.
First, the partial eclipse, the sun will look like a crescent shape is moving over it.
Next, you might be able to see Shadow Bands, quick-moving and faint, dark and light bands appear on sides of buildings and on the ground. They’re caused by the same turbulence of Earth’s upper atmosphere that makes stars twinkle.
Bailey’s Beads become visible as the moon makes its final pass across the sun. Several points of light shine around the moon’s edges, showing the irregularities of the moon’s surface.. Look sharp, though. They are very short-lived. If you sneeze, you’ll miss them!
They’ll begin to disappear until only a single bright spot is left. A tiny edge of the sun appears like a diamond behind the moon’s shadow. It glows just as the corona is beginning to come into view.
When the diamond ring disappears, we’ll have achieved totality. It is safe to remove your safety glasses for the tiny amount of time the sun is covered by the moon’s shadow. Look around. Did different stars “come out”? Did birds stop singing? Did it drop a few degrees?
Then get those glasses on again as soon as the sun re-appears and watch the whole process in reverse!
In Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall (Atria Books, 2022), the author exposes the importance of an underground network of women, the Janes. Through intertwined narratives of three women in three different decades since the 1960s, the effect on women and their babies of adoption by coercion, the need for a woman be allowed to consult with her doctor regarding her own health, and society’s changing views of pregnancy and childbirth are examined. While Marshall has slighted some important aspects of women’s health, I was emotionally engaged with the characters and their stories.
-—Be curious! (and look for the silver ~or golden~ lining)
from Every Soul a Star
written by Wendy Mass
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008
*for me, two minutes and 32 seconds
On August 21, 2017, the moon’s shadow blocked about 80% of the sun in my part of Ohio. This maximum coverage was reached at 2:33 pm, and I was watching. With my protective glasses in my pocket, I walked across the street where our local university’s astronomy department had set up telescopes.
An epically long line was growing by the moment, so I queued up. I knew I could just look up and see the phenomenon of my life, so, after several minutes in line, I asked the person next to me what we were waiting for. Special glasses, I was told.
Well, imagine that! I was pre-prepared! I stepped out of line and headed for the telescopes. What looked to me like a grad student explained that the image in the telescope would appear upside down. I don’t remember why, but sure enough, it was true. I watched a dark crescent shape begin its journey, PacMan-like, across the sun’s surface. I did not stay at the telescope for the hour and a half it took to make its way toward the 80% obscuration and then the other hour and a half till the sun fully shone again.
I watched for a while. I lay back on the grass and had a magnificent view. Lots of people were there, but there was plenty of room for everyone.
Granted, 80% is not even remotely close to totality, but I was pretty excited even at that partial eclipse.
The next eclipse will be totally different for me, though. I’m lucky to live very close to the path of totality. I can travel just several miles to see the moon’s shadow obliterate the sun for two minutes and 32 seconds.
I tried to find out in my own over-simplified way what will happen one week from today, April 8, 2024.
There are times when the moon, in its orbit around Earth, passes between Earth and the sun during Earth’s own orbit around the sun.
When the moon, and Earth are in perfect alignment with the sun as they continue to travel around and around each other, an eclipse can occur. It is the shadow of the moon as it crosses between Earth and the sun that causes the sun to become eclipsed. From the Ancient Greek, ekleipsis, the sun is briefly blotted out.
This link will take you to a diagram drawn by NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/solar-eclipse-diagram/
Here’s the rest of the explanation from Every Soul a Star quoted at the top of this post.
“The only reason we can see an eclipse is because the moon and the sun happen to look the exact same size from earth. But really, the moon is 400 times smaller. It’s just that coincidentally, the sun is 400 times as far away as the moon, so they look the same size to us.”
Wendy Mass continues, “[a]n eclipse can only happen when the moon is in the new moon phase, when we can’t see the sun reflecting off of it. So it’s like looking for something invisible.”
The moon’s orbit around Earth causes it to sometimes come between the sun and Earth. As the moon travels around Earth, the sun lights up different portions of it. From Earth, it looks like the moon waxes and wanes, but really what we see is the sun shining on different parts of the moon's surface.
When the moon is between the sun and Earth, it seems like the moon has disappeared. It’s during this New Moon phase, when the moon is out there but we can’t see it, that the shadow cast by the sun onto the moon makes it seem invisible. Because the moon’s orbit around Earth is tilted relative to Earth’s orbit around the sun, the New Moon phase usually passes below or above the sun and its shadow misses Earth.
It’s those few times when their perfect alignment causes a solar eclipse, and fewer times still, when the path of the eclipse passes directly over where I’ll be able to see its totality (for two minutes and 32 seconds).
At the approach of totality, a few stunning, unforgettable displays might be observed.
First, the partial eclipse, the sun will look like a crescent shape is moving over it.
Next, you might be able to see Shadow Bands, quick-moving and faint, dark and light bands appear on sides of buildings and on the ground. They’re caused by the same turbulence of Earth’s upper atmosphere that makes stars twinkle.
Bailey’s Beads become visible as the moon makes its final pass across the sun. Several points of light shine around the moon’s edges, showing the irregularities of the moon’s surface.. Look sharp, though. They are very short-lived. If you sneeze, you’ll miss them!
They’ll begin to disappear until only a single bright spot is left. A tiny edge of the sun appears like a diamond behind the moon’s shadow. It glows just as the corona is beginning to come into view.
When the diamond ring disappears, we’ll have achieved totality. It is safe to remove your safety glasses for the tiny amount of time the sun is covered by the moon’s shadow. Look around. Did different stars “come out”? Did birds stop singing? Did it drop a few degrees?
Then get those glasses on again as soon as the sun re-appears and watch the whole process in reverse!
In Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall (Atria Books, 2022), the author exposes the importance of an underground network of women, the Janes. Through intertwined narratives of three women in three different decades since the 1960s, the effect on women and their babies of adoption by coercion, the need for a woman be allowed to consult with her doctor regarding her own health, and society’s changing views of pregnancy and childbirth are examined. While Marshall has slighted some important aspects of women’s health, I was emotionally engaged with the characters and their stories.
-—Be curious! (and look for the silver ~or golden~ lining)
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