What Was the 2017 Solar Eclipse?

Ring of Fire: What is a Solar Eclipse?

Bad Omens

On January 27th of the year 632, the Moon appeared to cover the Sun in the sky. Visible in Medina, Saudi Arabia, the eclipse of the Sun was not the only big event occurring that day. Prior to the eclipse’s arrival, the Prophet Mohammad’s one-year-old son, Ibrahim, fell ill and died soon after. Following his death was the arrival of the eclipse, which blocked out all of the sunlight over Medina. Many people took the arrival of the eclipse as a sign of a miracle, but the Prophet Mohammad dismissed this, “stating that the Sun and the Moon are signs of God and that they are not eclipsed for the birth or death of any man.”[i] Just 500 years later, the Moon once again covered the Sun, this time over England. Not long after, King Henry I died from food poisoning. From there, superstition spread about the bad omens that eclipses bring. However, solar eclipses are an occurrence of nature and can be easily explained. Civilization has been around for thousands of years, so it is highly probable that a solar eclipse would coincide with important events throughout history.

Shadows

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. While the Moon is in its New Moon phase, its shadow is cast onto the Earth’s surface. The Moon’s shadow has two parts, the umbra and the penumbra. The umbra is the darkest part of the shadow, where the Sun is entirely blocked from the view of the observer, and the penumbra is the outer region of the Moon’s shadow, which covers a much larger area. During a total solar eclipse, the light from the sun is obscured to those who are located in the path of the moon’s umbra. Only when the Sun is completely covered by the Moon, is it safe (and encouraged) to look at the Sun without optical protection. In fact, for a short amount of time, the sky will almost completely darken, and the Sun will appear as a black ball in the sky, with whips of light radiating out from the edges, resembling a ring of fire. Anyone within the path of the Moon’s umbra will see it in totality. Unfortunately, the umbra is not very large, but anyone in the path of the Moon’s penumbra will still see a partial solar eclipse. For those who are not in the path of the eclipse, the sky will still darken and the Sun will appear to have a chunk taken out of it. Unfortunately, it is not safe to look at a partial solar eclipse because the radiation from the Sun will burn your eyes and sunglasses are not strong enough to protect them. In order to look directly at the sun during a solar eclipse, you can use glasses with a filter or look at a projection of the event. Even if you are unable to situate yourself in the umbra during a total solar eclipse, if you can get your hands on a pair of protective eyewear, it is still a very fascinating event to experience.[ii]

Experiments

Because of the history solar eclipses coinciding with death, many people believe that they only bring destruction and bad luck, but solar eclipses have allowed us to make many scientific discoveries throughout history. According to the European Space Agency, “the ancient Greeks and Romans used dated references to eclipses to improve the calendar.”[iii] Additionally, by using data from lunar eclipses, the Greeks were able to calculate the Earth’s diameter. In more recent times, the solar eclipse has even helped astronomers to confirm Einstein’s theory of relativity. During a total solar eclipse, the outermost layer of the Sun, called the corona, is visible to us. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Arthur Eddington, an English astronomer, proved that gravity has the ability to bend light. He was able to determine that the relative positions of the stars that closely surround the Sun appeared in different locations of the sky during a solar eclipse. Even to this day, astronomers use this instrument, now called a coronagraph, to see the surrounding planetary objects. The coronagraph works by placing a black dot on the lens of a telescope in order to block out the light from the Sun and see objects that lie around it. It is one of the main methods that astronomers use to this day to locate planets and other astronomical objects in more distant solar systems.

Sightseeing

Total solar eclipses are the rarest kind of eclipse to see because the majority of them happen over the ocean. The Earth, Sun, and Moon have to line up perfectly in order for a solar eclipse to occur. Since the Moon is not naturally in line with the Earth’s equator, solar eclipses only happen every eighteen months, and are visible in similar areas approximately every eighteen years. It has been almost 40 years since a solar eclipse has been visible over the continental United States, but on August 21st, 2017, the eclipse will cover a strip of land from Oregon all the way down to South Carolina. People all over the country are flocking to popular viewing spots in order to catch a glimpse of this phenomenon that only appears a handful of times in a lifetime. It will pass over ten states and will stay visible in totality for anywhere between one minute in Kansas City, Missouri and almost three full minutes in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The “sweet spot” for people looking to get the longest eclipse experience lies in Giant City State Park in Carbondale, Illinois.[iv] There, people will experience two minutes and forty-one seconds of totality. Thankfully, the penumbra of the Moon during an eclipse is much larger than the umbra, so everyone on the continental United States will at least be able to view a partial eclipse this August. Still, there is more to experience during an eclipse than just the disappearance of the Sun. The actual event causes no damage to the planet because it is just the manipulation of shadows onto the surface of the Earth, but the Sun will appear much larger than normal, and things that are influenced by the Moon will differ as well. For example, shadows will look different and wind will dissipate. Even the temperature will experience an extreme 10 to 15 degree drop. This eclipse is an event you don’t want to miss, but if you do, don’t worry, according to Astronomy Magazine, “the next total solar eclipse over the continental U.S. occurs April 8, 2024.”[v]

[i] “Solar Eclipses in History.” Timeanddate.com. Copyright © Time and Date AS 1995–2017. All rights reserved.

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar-eclipse-history.html.

[ii] “25 facts you should know about the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse.” 25 facts you should know about the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse — Astronomy Magazine — Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes. Published August 5, 2014. http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2014/08/05/25-facts-you-should-know-about-the-august-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse.aspx.

[iii] Esa. “The science of eclipses.” European Space Agency. Published September 28, 2004. http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/The_science_of_eclipses.

[iv] “Total eclipse of sun: August 21, 2017.” EarthSky. Published March 14, 2017. http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/total-eclipse-of-sun-august-21-2017.

[v] “25 facts you should know about the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse.” 25 facts you should know about the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse — Astronomy Magazine — Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes. Published August 5, 2014. http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2014/08/05/25-facts-you-should-know-about-the-august-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse.aspx.