World Prepares for Total Solar Eclipse

Enoch · Mar 28, 2006

NASA

See the Total Solar Eclipse Here

It's not easy to see a total solar eclipse. They're rare -- the next one visible in the U.S. is in 2017 -- and you can't look directly at them. But in the early morning hours of March 29, seeing the next solar eclipse will be easy -- just visit this Web page.

+ VIEW VIDEO PREVIEW

This year's eclipse will be visible in South America, Africa, and Asia, but NASA TV and NASA.gov will bring it to you here, thanks to a partnership with the University of California at Berkeley and the Exploratorium. Our streaming webcast begins at 5 a.m. EST, with totality -- the phase of the eclipse where the sun is completely blocked by the moon's shadow -- beginning at 5:55 (See webcast schedule).

The special coverage is part of Sun-Earth Day, celebrated every year to help everyone better understand how our sun interacts with the Earth and other planets in the solar system. This year's theme, "Eclipse: In a Different Light" shows how eclipses have inspired people to observe and understand the Sun-Earth-Moon system. In addition to the webcast, NASA and its partners will provide podcasts from Turkey starting on March 27. All the material will be sent to schools and museums as part of the Sun-Earth Day program.

The eclipse coverage also has a historic first. NASA and Libyan scientists will be conducting joint scientific activities to observe and study the event. NASA will contact scientists in Libya to share their comments on their activities as well as their observations.
+ Gallery: The View From Libya

Still image from animation showing the visible path of the eclipse over the Earth.Image left: Path of the March 29, 2006 eclipse. As the moon passes between the earth and sun, areas covered by the black circle will see a total eclipse. The red circle outlines the regions that will be able to see a partial eclipse. Credit: NASA/Walt Feimer (Click on image for animation) + Click for more details.

A total solar eclipse is very rare because all parts of this puzzle must line up correctly in order for it to occur. The moon must be in its new phase for a solar eclipse to take place. The moon's shadow has two parts—a central region called the umbra and an outer region called the penumbra. The part of the moon’s shadow which passes over you determines what kind of eclipse you will see.

In this case, the eclipse will be visible within a narrow corridor, which crosses half of the Earth. This path begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic Ocean, Northern Africa, and Central Asia where it ends at sunset in Northern Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and Central Asia.

In a total eclipse like this one, the entire central portion of the Sun is blocked out. The sky darkens as though it is nighttime and -- for the only time -- you can see the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere. Total solar eclipses are of special interest to astronomers because it's the only time they can study the corona. Scientists still don't understand why the corona is so hot. Its temperature is 1 to 2 million degrees Fahrenheit while the Sun's bright surface is only 10,000° F. Careful measurements and experiments made during a total eclipse can help to unravel this enigma.

This year's eclipse is also special because the total phase lasts over 4 minutes at the center of the path. This is quite long for a total solar eclipse since most last just a minute or two. The next total eclipse,on August 1, 2008, will be seen in northern Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. It will last about 2 minutes. The next total eclipse visible from the United States won’t happen until August 21, 2017.

At the Web site, Solar Week , students and the general public can learn about the sun and careers in solar science. NASA will also start podcasting 3-5 minutes of programs for teachers and students to download on to their computers and portable music players.
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AP Story

ACCRA, Ghana - Tourists and scientists were gathering at spots around the world for the first total eclipse in years, a solar show that will sweep northeast from Brazil to Mongolia and blot out the sun across swathes of the world's poorest lands.

The last such eclipse in November 2003 was most visible from Antarctica, said Alex Young, a
NASA scientist involved in solar research.

Wednesday's eclipse will block the sun in highly populated areas, including West Africa.

In Togo, authorities imported hundreds of thousands of pairs of special glasses that consumers cleared rapidly from shelves in the capital, Lome. Villagers in the interior will not have access to the eyewear and officials called on them to stay home.

"Please, do not go out and keep your children indoors on solar eclipse day," Togo's minister for health said in a message broadcast on state television.

Day will turn to night in the eclipse's route and a corona — the usually invisible extended atmosphere of the sun — will glow around the edges of the moon as it comes between the earth and the sun.

"Imagine if your hair was to stand up from static electricity, that's kind of what the corona looks like all around the sun," NASA's Young said. But the corona's light can burn eyes.

In Ghana, where the effect will be particularly visible, people were spending about $1 for "solar shades" — paper-rimmed glasses with dark plastic lenses that resemble eyewear used for viewing three-dimensional movies.

NASA said Turkey will be the best spot to view the eclipse, and tens of thousands of tourists were expected along the Turkish Mediterranean coast. Astronomers from NASA and Britain's Royal Institute of Astronomy were also going to an ancient Roman amphitheater in Turkey to view the phenomenon.

The moon is expected to first begin blocking out the sun in the morning in Brazil before the eclipse migrates to Africa, then on to Turkey and up into Mongolia, where it will fade out with the sunset.

Superstition will follow around the world, as it has for generations.

One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.

Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.
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Enoch · Mar 29, 2006

This was amazing... Our God is utterly awe-inspiring!

World Prepares for Total Solar Eclipse

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