Get ready for Europe’s first total solar eclipse in decades
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
By KATRINA MILLER
A total solar eclipse, the first that mainland Europe has seen in nearly 30 years, is happening Wednesday. The moon will swallow the sun whole, casting a shadow hundreds of thousands of miles long onto Earth and plunging part of our world into ephemeral darkness.
The main event will begin at about 12:08 p.m. Eastern time in the northernmost part of Russia, and then loop around to pass over Greenland, Iceland and the Atlantic Ocean. It will cut across northern Spain and a tiny corner of Portugal before ending in the Mediterranean Sea. Elsewhere in Europe, northwestern Africa and parts of North America, the moon will obscure only a portion of the sun.
The most important thing to remember during a solar eclipse is that it’s unsafe to stare directly at the sun until the moon has completely covered its surface, a phase known as totality. At all other times, you should watch the event using protective eyegear.
Here’s what to know about Wednesday’s total solar eclipse.
What is a total solar eclipse?
A total solar eclipse arises when the moon slips between Earth and the sun, temporarily shielding the solar surface from our view. This leaves behind a black disk in the sky, surrounded by a wispy halo of the sun’s outer atmosphere called the corona.
Total solar eclipses are a cosmic coincidence. The moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, but it is also about 400 times closer to Earth, which makes the two appear to be the same size in the sky.
For a total solar eclipse to occur, the sun, the moon and Earth have to align perfectly in space. The lunar shadow caused by this alignment has an inner part called the umbra. People beneath the umbra, which traces out a relatively narrow path on Earth, experience totality. Those under the penumbra, or the outer part of the lunar shadow, will instead see a partial solar eclipse, during which the moon obscures only a portion of the sun’s surface.
What happens during a total solar eclipse?
Along the path of totality, the event will begin with a partial solar eclipse. The moon will take a bite out of the edge of the sun and slowly consume more of its surface. This phase will last about an hour.
Next comes the most dramatic part of the eclipse: totality, which lasts only a few moments. During totality, the sun’s corona is visible and safe to look at with the naked eye.
Then the sun will creep out from behind the moon, creating another partial eclipse that recedes as the moon slowly slips away from the sun until the world is back to its normal brightness.
The duration of an eclipse depends on the location it is viewed from. Altogether, the phases of this eclipse will last about two hours.
What is totality like?
As the eclipse approaches its maximum phase along the path of totality, the air on Earth will cool. The light will also dim, as if someone turned down the brightness at the wrong part of day. Shadows will sharpen, and images of crescents — tiny projections of the growing eclipse — will appear within them.
During totality, the sky darkens to a deep twilight and temperatures drop significantly. A 360-degree sunset appears on the horizon. Animals will also react: Researchers have documented that bees stop buzzing, birds stop singing and crickets begin chirping. Pets may express confusion, too. In addition to the sun’s corona, bright stars and planets will become visible.
Totality for this eclipse is short. According to NASA, most places will experience the effect for less than two minutes. The exact duration depends on location along the path of totality and how close you are to the path’s centerline.
When does the total solar eclipse begin and end?
The eclipse begins in the sparsely populated tundra of northern Russia, where the moon will start to conceal the sun around 12:08 p.m. Wednesday. (Times listed in this section are Eastern.) Viewers in that region will be the first to see totality as early as 12:58 p.m.
The moon’s shadow will swoop over the Arctic Ocean, narrowly missing the North Pole. It reaches land at 1:13 p.m., cutting across a swath of northeastern Greenland and, around 1:43 p.m., arriving at the shore of western Iceland.
Then the eclipse will journey across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Spanish coast. As early as 2:26 p.m., totality will be visible in Spain. The moon’s shadow will sweep over the Balearic Islands — Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza — and the last people on land will experience totality around 2:33 p.m. People toward the end of the eclipse path will get the chance to see a partially obscured sun dip below the horizon.
Where are the best places to watch the eclipse?
In general, the best place to watch a total solar eclipse is along the path of totality. Overall, the path of totality for this eclipse is less than 200 miles wide, though the exact width varies by location.
Many places along the path are remote and difficult to travel to. In Greenland, most of totality will occur over a region with no permanent residents or infrastructure, and many people are opting to catch the event by sea. One popular site on land is Reykjavik, Iceland, which is near the edge of the eclipse path’s centerline. Totality in Reykjavik will occur at 5:48 p.m. local time and last for only one minute.
But skywatchers in Reykjavik and elsewhere in Iceland may have to contend with cloud cover that can block views of the eclipse. Several places in Spain are promising the possibility of clearer skies and warmer temperatures, including Valencia and Ibiza, for which totality occurs at 8:32 p.m. local time and also lasts about a minute. Quieter parts of the Spanish countryside, like León and Burgos, are also expecting an influx of tourists for the event.
Totality will not be visible from the United States.
What if I can’t make it to the path of totality?
Viewers who are not along the path of totality but still fall under the outer part of the moon’s shadow will get the chance to see a partial solar eclipse. But how perceptible it is depends on how far you are from path’s centerline. The closer you are, the more dramatic it will be.
In the United States, a partial eclipse will be most visible in Alaska and in the Northeast. Portions of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic also fall under the moon’s shadow, but the eclipse in these parts will cover less than 10% of the sun’s surface. The partial eclipse in Canada ranges from less than 5% to more than 90% coverage of the sun, increasing the farther north you go.
Nearly 80% of the sun will be obscured in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Cities in mainland Europe where more than 90% of the sun will be covered include Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Milan, London and Dublin. Along the coastline in northwest Africa, Algiers and Casablanca will also experience a deeply eclipsed sun.
If you want to see the eclipse in full but are unable to make it to the path of totality, NASA and other organizations are providing live video streams. The New York Times will have journalists providing live coverage from Iceland, Spain, Britain and New York City.
Comments