Tag: Eclipses

The total solar eclipse on April 8 is just around the corner. After spending months researching different locations to see the total solar eclipse, I’ve landed on Cape Girardeau, Missouri. That’s because the town of some 40,000 people is close to the centerline, which refers to the middle of the path the moon’s shadow will take as it crosses North America. This location therefore doesn’t just lie within the path of totality, but in a spot that allows eclipse-chasers to get 4 minutes and 6 seconds of the totality experience.…

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The “Great North American Eclipse” is just a little over a week away. For many in the path of totality, preparing for the total solar eclipse on April 8 includes coming up with a plan of where to watch it, who you are going to watch it with, and securing protective solar glasses to be able to safely witness the procession of celestial transformation in the sky. But for the indigenous communities of North America, it’s a whole different type of preparation, and a philosophy that’s very different from Western…

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The splendor of a solar eclipse is unique to our world — nowhere else in the solar system does a planet’s moon so perfectly block the light of the sun. The fast and fleeting darkness of those events affects many things on Earth, including animal behavior and waves in the ionosphere.  Researchers have now found that cumulus cloud cover fell by more than a factor of 4, on average, as the moon’s shadow passed over Earth during a recent annular eclipse.  This little-studied aspect of solar eclipses has important lessons for geoengineering efforts aimed at…

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The total solar eclipse on April 8 could come with an uptick in fatal car crashes, scientists caution in a new report. It’s more common to hear about eclipse-related eye injuries than car crashes. But during the last total solar eclipse in North America — the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017 — the U.S. saw a brief-but-significant increase in fatal crashes, researchers warned in a research letter published Monday (March 25) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The surge in crashes wasn’t tied to the daytime darkness caused by the eclipse. Actually, “we see a significant decrease…

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On April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across North America. The path of totality — a 115-mile (185-kilometer) wide route where the moon will cover 100% of the sun‘s disk — stretches through Mexico, 15 U.S. States and Canada. It is shaping up to be one of the most watched total solar eclipses ever with over 31 million people living within the path of totality alone. With all the juiced-up anticipation for the celestial event, there is a huge amount of pressure to get “E-day” just right. The…

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