Solar Eclipse Today!

[LadyTevar]

Southern U.S. to witness first solar eclipse of 2005
Friday, April 8, 2005 Posted: 10:10 AM EDT (1410 GMT)

FACT BOX
April 8, 2005, solar eclipse:
Partial begins: 5:20 PM EDT
Maximum: 6:20 PM EDT
Partial ends: 7:14 PM EDT
Source: NASA/GSFC


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Sky-watchers from the South Pacific to the Americas will witness the first solar eclipse of 2005 on Friday when the moon blots out part of the sun.

It will be a partial eclipse rather than a total one, in which the Earth is cast into darkness. But it will be the last partial solar eclipse visible from the continental United States until May 20, 2012.

Solar eclipses occur when the Earth, sun and moon line up in such a way that the moon casts a shadow over Earth.

The eclipse will last from a few minutes to over an hour, depending on one's location. In much of the continental United States, people will see what looks like the moon taking a bite out of the sun, with the bite bigger over the South.

In Central America and the northern portion of South America, the sun will be reduced to a narrow ring of fire.

Astronomers warned people not to stare directly at the sun without eye protection.

"It's neat to see the moon take a bite of the sun," said Tom Fleming, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "Each eclipse is different because I remember who I was with and where I was when I was watching it."

The path of the eclipse will stretch about 14,160 kilometers (8,800 miles) through a corridor beginning near New Zealand and extending across the Americas.

For a while, the sun will be blotted out completely as the eclipse moves across the open Pacific, but it will be visible only to people at sea.

The next solar eclipse will be October 3, crossing the Iberian Peninsula to Africa.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Oh hell... I'm going to be in class during this whole thing...

Thanks for the heads up, though.

[Darth Yoshi]

Stupid moon. Stupid eclipse not reaching West Coast. Ah well.

[Kuroneko]

For those that wished to be able to see it, take it as a consolation that you did not miss out on much. With a central duration of only 42.0 seconds in the middle of the south pacific, this eclipse is rather unimpressive. The 3 Oct eclipse will be a lot longer, but then it's only an annular one.

[Hardy]

My mother didn't want me looking at it directly, but I was able to catch a glimpse of it through projection methods. Like Kuroneko said, it was quite unimpressive, though I believe it did last much longer than 42 seconds in my part of the world. The best view was provided by the local TV stations, which did look pretty eerie, but not dramatic.

It was my first eclipse, though.

[LadyTevar]

I missed it. There were too many clouds in the way

[CaptainChewbacca]

It reached the west coast, it just wasn't visible very far north.

[Kuroneko]

My mother didn't want me looking at it directly, but I was able to catch a glimpse of it through projection methods. Like Kuroneko said, it was quite unimpressive, though I believe it did last much longer than 42 seconds in my part of the world. The best view was provided by the local TV stations, which did look pretty eerie, but not dramatic.

The 42.0 seconds is the central duration, which, for a total eclipse, as this one was, is essentially the greatest duration of totality. This happened at 10°34.6'S 118°57.7'W, in the middle of nowhere in the southeast pacific (I thought it was more west at first). The central duration is determined by how much larger the apparent size of the moon is relative to the apparent size of the sun. In this case, the ratio was a rather wimpy 1.0074. (Fig. from NASA Reference 1178, Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986-2035, 1987 revised ed., although it also gives a table for all eclipses in 1901-2100.)

It was my first eclipse, though.

If you're in the USA, you'll see a much better one in 2017, the umbra going right through S. Carolina, Kentucky, Nebraska, to Oregon. It'll last much longer, too--totality lasting over four minutes. That will be a sight to see. The best spot will be in south-western Kentucky near the Tennessee border. Afriend of mine, who is an eclipse enthusiast, is already making to be there.

[Hardy]

The 42.0 seconds is the central duration, which, for a total eclipse, as this one was, is essentially the greatest duration of totality. This happened at 10°34.6'S 118°57.7'W, in the middle of nowhere in the southeast pacific (I thought it was more west at first). The central duration is determined by how much larger the apparent size of the moon is relative to the apparent size of the sun. In this case, the ratio was a rather wimpy 1.0074. (Fig. from NASA Reference 1178, Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986-2035, 1987 revised ed., although it also gives a table for all eclipses in 1901-2100.)

Ah. Where I was, it wasn't quite in a state of totality.

When I read "42.0 seconds", I'd assumed that you meant that the Moon's disk overlapped the Sun's for that period of time. Thanks for clearing it up.

It was my first eclipse, though.

If you're in the USA, you'll see a much better one in 2017, the umbra going right through S. Carolina, Kentucky, Nebraska, to Oregon. It'll last much longer, too--totality lasting over four minutes. That will be a sight to see. The best spot will be in south-western Kentucky near the Tennessee border. Afriend of mine, who is an eclipse enthusiast, is already making to be there.

Thanks for telling me. That will definitely be something to look forward to.

[Kuroneko]

Ah. Where I was, it wasn't quite in a state of totality.

It wouldn't be anywhere in North America, just along a narrow band from Central America through the South Pacific.

Thanks for telling me. That will definitely be something to look forward to.

I made a mistake in duration because I confused it with the Oct 23, 1976 eclipse (a certain friend of mine can really get going on eclipses, that being his first total one, and his quest to capture a photo of the semi-mythical shadow bands, which are an optical wave-like effect sometimes occuring near the edge of the umbra). Anyway, the Aug 21, 2017 eclipse will indeed cut through the United States, but its central duration will be only 2:40.1, although of course the the moon will take longer than that to actually pass through the sun's disk.