Back in September and October, we ran a Solar Eclipse Viewing blog series, written by Ken Brandt, to make sure that everyone who was interested in seeing the annular eclipse on October 14th had the information needed to to so. With a second solar eclipse coming our way in less than a year, Ken has agreed to update these posts so we can re-run this blog post series with current pertinent information for the upcoming April solar eclipse.
If you are a teacher looking for additional information, next Friday we’ll tell you about a free online course that you can take to prepare yourself to teach this information to your students.
Eclipse Blog Series by Ken Brandt, Robeson Planetarium and Science Center, Lumberton, NC
Depending upon your age, at some point back in school, you probably were taught about Solar and Lunar eclipses. You were also taught about the phases of the moon. Hopefully, you were taught that eclipses deal with shadows, and phases are determined by the apparent angle between the Earth, Moon, and Sun.
But, angles are also crucial in the examination of eclipse geometry. In order for eclipses to occur, a precise alignment of Earth, Moon, and Sun must exist. The apparent angle between the Earth, Moon, and Sun in a total solar eclipse is 0 degrees.
Additionally, the Moon must be on the “node” of its orbit around Earth. The node is that point where the Moon’s orbital plane intersects with Earth’s. This is the primary reason that we don’t see eclipses every month. Most of the time, the Moon’s orbital tilt (5 degrees relative to Earth’s orbital plane) means that the Moon’s shadow is projected into space either above or below Earth.
For those of us in the United States, the period between October 2023 and April 2024 puts us in the middle of two partial solar eclipse experiences! If you were lucky enough to view it, Saturday, October 14th, 2023 featured a special kind of eclipse called an annular eclipse, where the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, but at a distance to leave a “ring of fire” visible around the outside of the dark moon. The next eclipse, occuring on Monday, April 8th, 2024, will be a total eclipse, where the moon completely covers the sun. In North Carolina, we will only see a partial eclipse, as we are not in the path of totality. For many school districts, this will occur on the Monday following Spring Break, so students will be in school, or transiting home during this eclipse.
This is a fairly rare event. Our next opportunity for a partial eclipse here in North Carolina will be in 2042. If you have the opportunity to safely observe the eclipse, either in school or at home, please plan to do so, and share it with as many people as you can.
For those of you wanting to plan an event around the upcoming eclipse, a partial solar eclipse is problematic for several reasons. First, all steps in the eclipse must be observed safely, without looking directly at the Sun. Also, there can be long stretches of inactivity during the eclipse. Other activities must be planned for the interim between the occasional look at the projected eclipse, or through certified eclipse glasses. Of course, if the weather doesn’t cooperate, other planned activities will allow your event to go on, with or without the Sun.
This Solar eclipse is an opportunity to engage more potential visitors to your venue, and I’ll stress safe preparation techniques as we get closer to carrying out these events in our respective venues.
Follow this eclipse blog series every Friday until the April 8th eclipse for tips and information about viewing the eclipse safely, planning a public event, or viewing at home with family and friends.
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Ken Brandt directs the Robeson Planetarium and Science Center in Lumberton, NC. He is a volunteer in NASA’s Solar System Ambassador Program. He is also a member of the 3rd cohort of NC Space Grant Ambassadors, and an Ambassador for the Mars Society.