Millions witness total solar eclipse
A TOTAL solar eclipse had millions of people across a heavily populated swathe of North America gazing toward the heavens yesterday as the moon completely blocked the sun for more than four minutes in some places.
The eclipse was to be viewable along a path starting in Mexico and then crossing through the US and into Canada. Eclipse fans gathered in places along the “path of totality” including the city of Fredericksburg in central Texas.
At up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds, this one was to last longer than the total eclipse that streaked across parts of the US in 2017, which clocked in at up to 2 minutes and 42 seconds.
According to Nasa, total eclipses can last anywhere from 10 seconds to about 7-and-a-half minutes.
Some cities along the path of totality included Mazatlan, Mexico; San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; both Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, site of the famed waterfall, and Montreal, Quebec. A partial eclipse was to be visible in North America outside the path of totality.
About 32 million people in the US live within the path of totality, with federal officials predicting another 5 million people would travel to be there. Countless eclipse-watching events were being convened at bars, stadiums, fairgrounds and parks along the path of totality.
This was the ninth total eclipse for Anthony Aveni, author of the book In the Shadow of the Moon: The Science, Magic and Mystery of Solar Eclipses and a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy, sociology and anthropology at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
“It’s an interruption in nature’s status quo,” Aveni said. “And it takes your breath away.”
Overcast skies are among an eclipse-chaser’s worst fears. The US National Weather Services’ forecast for yesterday morning was for “a rapid untimely increase of clouds” in Southern Texas; less worrying “high thin clouds” for a swathe from Arkansas to the Midwest; and the clearest skies in northern New England.
Zeiler, a cartographer and amateur astronomer, said he will study satellite images in the hours before the eclipse and will hustle if needed in his car at the last moment to a spot where a clear skies are expected. Zeiler created the Great American Eclipse website, filled with maps and data on eclipses.
It would take about 80 minutes from the moment the moon first begins to cover the sun to the moment of totality, then another 80 minutes to complete the process in reverse.
Experts advised eclipse viewers to use protective solar glasses to prevent eye damage from looking at the sun with the naked eye. Only during the few minutes of totality can the sun be safely viewed without such glasses, they said.
Eclipse veterans have described the 15 minutes before totality as foreboding, with shadows becoming oddly crisp and sunshine assuming an eerie quality.
In the seconds before totality, a phenomenon called “shadow bands” may appear – shimmering shadows on the ground, like those seen on the bottom of a swimming pool.
The last remaining bit of brilliant sunlight before totality creates a “diamond ring effect” in which a single bright spot appears along the lunar edge even as the sun’s atmosphere leaves a ring of light around the moon.
Aveni said each eclipse he has witnessed has inspired deep awe in everyone around him who saw it, igniting a sense of community. He said people frequently burst into tears and hug complete strangers.