Solar Eclipse 2024 Best Place to View: What do you need to know!
Briefing on Monday’s Solar Eclipse, April 8th. An eclipse happens when the sun, moon, and earth are in perfect alignment. Because the moon’s orbit is elliptical, full alignment is very rare.
We will have a full eclipse on Monday when it passes directly over Socorro Island, placing it in the full shadow of the moon. For those not on the islands on Monday, we will see a partial eclipse or partial shadow. The entire eclipse from start to finish takes almost 2.5 hours, although “totality” (i.e., the full eclipse) will last for only several minutes.
Did you know that our moon provides the opportunity for the only known eclipse in the universe? The odds are almost unimaginable. The question is, how does the moon cover the sun? This is a fluke of geography.
The sun is 400 times larger than the moon. The fluke is that the sun is exactly 400 times further away than the distance from the earth to the moon, 400 times further away, 400 times the size, and… Voilà! The perfect and unique condition in the universe for the moon to perfectly cover the sun.
And because the moon is moving away from Earth by several centimeters per year, the opportunity for full eclipses will slowly disappear.
Remember to wear your eclipse glasses on Monday. Do not look at the eclipse with bare eyes; no, sunglasses are not enough.
Enjoy!
Captain Mike