Wednesday 16 August 2017

Total Solar Eclipse to be visible from United States, 21 August 2017.

A total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from parts of the United States on Monday 21 August 2017, with a partial eclipse visible from the rest of North and Central America, as well as the Islands of the Caribbean, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, southern Scandinavia and parts of Brazil, Peru and Bolivia and (briefly) England, western Iberia, parts of West Africa and northwest Brazil. 

The path of the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse. The total eclipse will be visible along the central dark grey path. A partial eclipse will be visible from the shaded areas; in the lighters area the full eclipse will not be visible as it will have started before dawn (west) or will continue after sunset (east). The red lines are the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian. HM Nautical Almanac Office.

Eclipses are a product of the way the Earth, Moon and Sun move about one-another. The Moon orbits the Earth every 28 days, while the Earth orbits the Sun every 365 days, and because the two Sun and Moon appear roughly the same size when seen from Earth, it is quite possible for the Moon to block out the light of the Sun. At first sight this would seem likely to happen every month at the New Moon, when the Moon is on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, and therefore invisible (the Moon produced no light of its own, when we see the Moon we are seeing reflected sunlight, but this can only happen when we can see parts of the Moon illuminated by the Sun). 

The relative positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth during a Solar eclipse. Starry Night.

However the Moon does not orbit in quite the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun, so the Eclipses only occur when the two orbital planes cross one-another; this typically happens two or three times a year, and always at the New Moon. During Total Eclipses the Moon entirely blocks the light of the Sun, however most Eclipses are Partial, the Moon only partially blocks the light of the Sun.

How the differing inclinations of the Earth and Moon's orbits prevent us having an eclipse every 28 days. Starry Skies.

Although the light of the Sun is reduced during an Eclipse, it is still extremely dangerous to look directly at the Sun, and viewing eclipses should not be undertaken without appropriate equipment.

 Animation showing the shadow of the Moon at five minute intervals on Friday 20 March 2015. Andrew Sinclair/HM Nautical Almanac.

See also...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/partial-lunar-eclipse-7-august-2017.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/mars-reaches-solar-conjunction.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/the-2017-june-solstice.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/saturn-at-opposition.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/closest-lunar-perigee-of-2017.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/uranis-reaches-solar-conjunction.html
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