Credit – illustration by TIME
A. The total solar eclipse will sweep across North America on Monday, April 8, offering a spectacular sight to the tens of millions of people living in its path and those who will travel to see it.
During the new moon phase, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow on the Earth and completely or partially preventing us from seeing the Sun. While there are an average of two solar eclipses each year, a particular point on Earth is on the path to totality once every 375 years on average. Astronomy reported.
“Eclipses aren’t rare, it’s just that eclipses at your house are pretty rare,” John Gianforte, director of the University of New Hampshire Observatory, tells TIME. You may never see one if you stay in your hometown, but if you’re willing to travel you may witness more than one. Gianforte has seen five eclipses and plans to travel to Texas this year, where the weather is better.
Part of the fun of experiencing an eclipse can be watching the people around you. “They can yell, they can scream, they can cry, they can hug each other, and that’s because it’s an incredibly beautiful event,” says Gianforte, who is also an assistant professor of space science education. “Everyone should see at least one in their life because they are so amazing. “These are natural events that evoke emotion.”
Here are 10 surprising facts about the science behind this phenomenon, what makes the 2024 solar eclipse unique, and what to expect.
Total eclipse begins in the Pacific Ocean and ends in the Atlantic
The darker, inner shadow cast by the moon is called the umbra, and you may see a rarer total eclipse here. The outer, lighter second shadow is called the penumbra, and you can see the partial eclipse in more locations below it.
The total eclipse will begin at 12:39 a.m. Eastern Time, 620 miles south of the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. Astronomy. Umbra remains in contact with the Earth’s surface for three hours and 16 minutes until 3:55 p.m., when it ends in the Atlantic Ocean about 340 miles southwest of Ireland.
Umbra entered the United States at the Mexican border just south of Eagle Pass, Texas, and left just north of Houlton, Maine, with one hour and eight minutes between entry and exit, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) told TIME. reported. email.
Mexico will see the longest totality during the eclipse
According to NASA, the longest total eclipse will stretch for four minutes and 28 seconds over a 350-mile-long swath near the centerline of the eclipse, including west of Torreón, Mexico.
In the US, parts of Texas will experience total eclipses of almost equal length. In Fredericksburg, for example, fullness will last four minutes and 23 seconds, and if you head west it will take slightly longer, the agency told TIME. Most places along the centerline will see totality lasting between three and a half minutes and four minutes.
More people are living on the path to wholeness now compared to the last eclipse
According to NASA, an estimated 31.6 million people live in the path of totality for the solar eclipse in 2024, compared to 12 million during the last solar eclipse that passed over the United States in 2017.
The path of totality is much wider than in 2017, and this year’s eclipse also passes over more cities and densely populated areas than last time.
A part of the sun that is usually hidden will reveal itself
Solar eclipses allow for a glimpse of the sun’s corona, the star’s outermost atmosphere that is normally invisible to humans due to the sun’s brightness.
The corona consists of thin, white ribbons of plasma (charged gas) radiating from the sun. The corona is much hotter than the surface of the sun; About 1 million degrees Celsius (1.8 million Fahrenheit) compared to 5,500 degrees Celsius (9,940 Fahrenheit).
The Sun will be closer to its more dramatic solar maximum
During the 2024 eclipse, the sun will be near “solar maximum.” Gianforte tells TIME that this is the most active phase of a roughly 11-year solar cycle, which can lead to more significant and pronounced solar activity.
“We have a very active sun, which makes eclipses more exciting and [means there is] “There is much more to look forward to during the full phase of the eclipse,” he explains.
People should look for a long, active corona with more spikes and perhaps some curl on it; watch out for protrusions, bursts of pink plasma and emerging streaks that bounce off the sun’s surface and are pulled back by the sun’s magnetic field. Sun.
The streamers are “a beautiful shade of pink and are silhouetted against the black new moon passing in front of the solar disk, which makes them stand out very well. So looking at the fully eclipsed sun is a really beautiful sight,” says Gianforte.