Total solar eclipse
OSWEGO, NY – Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see – with proper eye protection.
On August 21, people all across the United States will pause to gaze into the sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of the total eclipse of the sun. Day will briefly be turned to night.
Whatever you do, do not look directly at the sun before or after it’s totally obscured by the moon. This can cause “eclipse blindness,” where the retina is seriously damaged by solar radiation. You could temporarily — or permanently — lose some or all of your vision, according to NASA.
You know the basics about a total solar eclipse – the earth, the moon and the sun happen to align perfectly. The moon blocks the sun from the earth, causing a dark momentary shadow on our planet. That’s the gist of it.
John Zielinski, a faculty member of SUNY Oswego’s Physics Department, alternates conducting planetarium shows each Sunday at 7 p.m. with another physics faculty member Scott Roby. Both are enthusiastic astronomers. Roby has organized eclipse viewing parties in the past.
Recently, Zielinski shared some information regarding the impending celestial singularity with Oswego County Today.
Total eclipse of the sun:
“A total eclipse of the sun will occur on Monday, August 21. It will be visible along an approximately 70-mile wide band from Oregon to South Carolina,” Zielinski said. “Outside of this band, only a partial eclipse will be seen. In Oswego, only a partial eclipse will be seen. Proper eye protection must be used to directly view the eclipse.”
A total eclipse of the sun (total solar eclipse) occurs when the disk of the new moon completely covers the disk of the sun. During a total solar eclipse the outer atmosphere of the sun, the corona, becomes visible. A partial eclipse of the sun (partial solar eclipse) occurs when the disk of the new moon only partially covers the disk of the sun. The corona is not visible.
A lunar eclipse is far more common than a solar eclipse. They happen a couple of times throughout the year. This happens when the earth passes directly between the sun and the moon. The earth then casts a shadow onto the moon’s surface. Some light does end up reaching the moon but not before going through our atmosphere, filtering out all the blue color, usually leaving us with a bright red moon.
A solar eclipse isn’t totally rare because it does generally occur approximately every two years, visible only to a small population somewhere in the world.
This type of eclipse happens when the moon comes between the sun and the earth. Since the moon is much smaller than the earth, it casts a smaller shadow. That’s why only parts of the world can see it.
A total solar eclipse is rare because of the small shadow that it casts on Earth. The area of the United States in which you can see the entire sun covered by the moon is called the “path of totality.”
This year’s total solar eclipse will be seen along a 70-mile wide path of totality through the following states: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Zielinski said.
It’ll be a partial solar eclipse in all other locations in the United States outside the 70-mile wide band.
NASA reports that the last total solar eclipse in North America happened February 26, 1979.
The most visible areas were in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. That’s what makes this event so special; it’s almost a once in a lifetime event.
Expect a significant temperature decrease during the spectacle. A 10-degree decrease is very likely.
What Time?
The moon’s shadow contacts the Pacific Coast of Oregon at 10:16 a.m. (PDT) travels eastward across the United states and leaves the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina at 2:49 p.m. (EDT).
At any single location along this path, the total phase of the solar eclipse will last for about two and a half minutes, Zielinski said.
Partial solar eclipse: Times for Oswego
Start of partial eclipse: 1:17 p.m. (EDT). Look due south, about 60° above the horizon. Disk of the moon makes contact with disk of sun.
Maximum partial eclipse: 2:37 p.m. (EDT). Look 35º to the west of due south, about 55° above the horizon. 67% of the sun’s disk will be covered.
End of partial eclipse: 3:52 p.m. (EDT). Look 60° to the west of due south, about 40° above the horizon. The disk of the moon no longer makes contact with disk of sun.
People along the “path of totality” will get a glimpse of the totally shadowed sun, but only for a moment. The entire eclipse will only be visible for approximately two minutes and 40 seconds, according to NASA. If you’re not in the path of totality, it will be even shorter – maybe just a few seconds!
Why
A total solar eclipse occurs when three conditions are met, Zielinski explained.
1.) The moon is a new moon. As the moon orbits the Earth, the sun, moon and Earth are all in a line. The moon casts its shadow toward the Earth. This happens each month.
2.) The moon is passing through the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. This guarantees that the shadow of the moon actually will contact the Earth. Otherwise the moon’s shadow will pass above or below the Earth. This second condition is only met about twice a year, six months apart. This is why a total solar eclipse does not happen every month at new moon.
3.) The moon’s shadow has two parts, a dark central region called the umbra and a surrounding outer region called the penumbra. In locations where the umbra is in contact with the Earth (a 70-mile wide circle), viewers will see a total solar eclipse. In locations where the penumbra is in contact with the Earth, viewers will see a partial solar eclipse.
The moon moving in front of the sun will cast a shadow in the totality zone that is going to look remarkably similar to nighttime for a brief moment. It may even cause street lamps to turn on. Colors in the sky will look strange for a bit.
Safety First
Just because the moon overshadows the sun for a couple of moments, doesn’t mean that you can’t damage your eyes. No matter what – you should never look directly at the sun.
“Proper eye protection will be needed to directly view the partial eclipse in Oswego in a safe manner,” Zilenski cautioned. “You will need to use ‘eclipse glasses’ that meet the ISO-12312-2 international safety standard. Eclipse safety glasses that meet this safety standard may be purchased at some retail stores. Parents need to carefully supervise children using these glasses.”
Ordinary sunglasses are not safe and eclipse safety glasses cannot be used with binoculars or small telescopes, he added.
The partial eclipse can be indirectly viewed by punching a small hole in a flat sheet of non-transparent material and projecting the image on wall or the ground. A small “crescent” image of the sun will be seen when the maximum partial eclipse occurs.
Frequency
There will be total 68 solar eclipses in the 21st century (2000 – 2100). That means there is a total solar eclipse somewhere on Earth every one and a half years.
However, because the circle of the moon’s umbra is so small (70-mile diameter), a total solar eclipse occurs at one particular location on Earth only once in several centuries.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century.
“There will be 85 total lunar eclipses in the 21st century (2000 – 2100). So in the 21st century total lunar eclipses will occur slightly more frequently than solar eclipses. However, any one total lunar eclipse is viewable from a much larger area on Earth, essentially an entire hemisphere. Therefore, a total lunar eclipse can be seen much more frequently from one location on Earth than a total solar eclipse,” Zielinski explained. “In a lunar eclipse, it is the size of the Earth’s umbra that matters. The Earth’s umbra is larger than the moon’s umbra. A total lunar eclipse can be viewed for more than an hour from any one location on Earth.”
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lunar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century.
Travel Suggestions for those who want to view the total eclipse
1.) Stay mobile. You will probably not know where the weather will be clear at eclipse time until about 24 hours before the eclipse. Be ready to drive (perhaps hundreds of miles!) to get to a clear area.
2.) At any one location the total solar eclipse (sun’s disk completely blocked by moon) will only last about two and a half minutes (90 seconds). Optimally, you would want to be viewing the eclipse from a location completely clear of clouds. Just one or two clouds in the wrong location at the wrong time will ruin everything.
3.) “My personal opinion is that the best chances of finding clear weather on the day of the eclipse will be to the west of the Mississippi River, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. At the moment, that is where I plan to be,” Zielinski said. “Eastern locations have humid summer weather that produces lots of cumulus clouds in the afternoon.”
Mark your calendars.
Those of us who don’t live in the totality zone will get another opportunity on April 8, 2024. This time the path will span from Texas all the way up to Maine.
“A total solar eclipse will occur in the afternoon of April 8, 2024. This total (not partial) solar eclipse will be visible in Oswego. Question: Will the early Spring weather cooperate?” Zielinski said. “A total lunar eclipse will occur on the night of January 20 – 21, 2019. This eclipse will be visible from Oswego. Question: Will the Winter weather cooperate?”
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