This month’s partial solar eclipse is a taste for ‘otherworldly’ show in April
Whet your eclipsing taste Oct. 14. Next April, feast on a disappearing sun.
That’s the bill of fare for sky watchers with eclipse glasses or telescope filters. We’ll be able to see two solar eclipses — one neat, one spectacular.
This month’s is an annular eclipse on Oct. 14. If you live in Oregon or Utah or Texas — or have hospitable friends that do — you can see the moon nearly cover the face of the sun, leaving a ring of fire.
In Connecticut, we’ll be farther away from the main action. The moon will cover about 20 percent of the sun — a nice enough slice, but not enough the dim the day’s brightness.
“People who aren’t looking for it may not even notice it,’’ said Bill Cloutier, one of the directors of the John J. McCarthy Observatory in New Milford.
But the observatory will be looking. Weather permitting, it will have a solar eclipse viewing party from noon to 2 p.m., allowing people to see the moon as it intrudes onto the sun. The public is invited to attend.
There will be a similar viewing at New Pond Farm in Redding as part of its annual Harvest Festival. The festival is open to the public, with a $20 per car fee.
“We ordinarily offer people a view of the sun,’’ said Cliff Wattley of Ridgefield, who helps organize the astronomy events at New Pond Farm. ‘This year, we’ll have the benefit of a partial eclipse.’’
As always, never look at the sun. The American Astronomical Society has a guide for safe eclipse viewing at eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety
Diana Hannikainen, observing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, said partial eclipses — even if it is a small cut of the sun — are worth seeing.
“They are glimpses that let you understand the scale of the solar system,’’ she said. “They’re fascinating.’’
“I agree,’’ said Cloutier of New Milford. “It’s an interesting celestial event.”
They also show how lucky we are to be placed where we are in that constantly-moving system.
Both the earth and moon orbit around the sun — something, Hannikainen said, it took astronomers millennia to figure out.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon’s orbit takes it between the sun and earth, blocking our view of the sun.
The sun is vastly bigger than the moon, with a diameter of 865,000 miles, compared to the moon’s 2,159-mile diameter.
But it is 93 million miles away from Earth, while the moon is close by, at a mere 238,000 miles away.
Because of that. Hannikainen said, the apparent diameter of the sun and moon — what we earthlings see — makes them seem of equal size. The much smaller moon can block the light of the much larger sun, or, in the case of an annular eclipse, almost block it.
Be patient. On April 8, 2024, the path of the Great North American total eclipse will cross Mexico, the US and the maritime provinces of Canada.
“Total solar eclipses can have long paths,’’ Hannikainen said. “But to go across North America, that’s unusual.’’
In America, the path of total eclipse will move up from the Hill Country of Texas on a diagonal path across the Midwest. It will pass over Cleveland and upper New York State into far northern Vermont before crossing the border into Canada.
In Connecticut, there will be a near-total eclipse, with the moon blocking more than 90 percent of the sun, leaving a small slice glowing in the sky.
To see a total solar eclipse is enthralling. Shadows shift, the world grows dark. For a few minutes, it gets unearthly, with a black hole in the sky and the sun’s corona streaming out from it. The stars come out. Ditto planets like Jupiter and Venus.
“It is beautiful and wonderful and almost eerie,’’ Hannikainen said. “We understand them today. People in the past must have been terrified and awestruck.’’
“It is otherworldly,’’ Cloutier said. “Having seen one myself, I can understand why people chase all over the globe to see them.’’
Which he, and others, may do next spring.
Cleveland, and Buffalo may be wonderful cities, but they’re on the squally Great Lakes. In northern Vermont, there’s the chance of cold fronts and snow sweeping in from Quebec.
Which means, maybe, going to sun-drenched Texas or Mexico to see the sun disappear.
“I want to be in the path of totality,’ Cloutier said. “The challenge is April.’’
Contact Robert Miller at earthmattersrgm @gmail.com
Tanya and Ording of Ridgefield view the solar eclipse at Ballard Park in Ridgefield on Aug. 21, 2017. In Connecticut, the moon will cover about 20 percent of the sun on Oct. 14. On April 8, the moon will block 90 percent of the sun.