Saturday saw a major solar eclipse cross the Americas, with all but the tips of North and South America able to see the new moon appear to take a bite out of the sun.
Over the course of a couple of hours the new moon began crossing the sun, covering as much as 90% of it as seen from some areas, before retreating to leave the sun’s disk whole again. Solar eclipse glasses were required at all times to se anything of the eclipse.
The maximum percentage of the sun covered by the moon differed according to location, with New York City seeing just a 23% eclipse while Salt Lake City 86%, Las Vegas 82%, Dallas 80%, Denver 78% and Los Angeles 70%. However, it didn’t get dark—even when 95% of the sun is covered by the moon light levels remain largely normal.
The deciding factor in how much of the sun was blotted out by the moon was closeness to the moon’s antumbral shadow, which was 115 miles wide and swept across parts of nine U.S. states—Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The biggest cities to see a “ring of fire” were Eugene in Oregon,
Those inside that narrow path got the best view of what was an annular (ring) solar eclipse, with a “ring of fire”—a halo of sunlight around the invisible moon—visible for a few minutes as the moon covered the center of the sun in a perfect circle.
The shadow first hit the U.S. at 9:13 a.m. PDT on the coast of Oregon and left Texas 50 minutes later at 12:03 p.m CDT. As it raced across the Earth the moon’s shadow got as fast as 7,000 mph and as slow as 1,700 mph, according to GreatAmericanEclipse.com.
After its journey across the U.S. the “ring of fire” was then seen in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Brazil. After rising as an “ring of fire” in the north Pacific Ocean it set as a “ring of fire” in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mexico City saw a 70% partial solar eclipse while Bogota, Columbia saw 87%, Sao Paolo in Brazil 37% and Buenos Aires in Argentina just 5% . The final city in South America to see the “ring of fire” was Natal on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, for three minutes 21 seconds.
An annular solar eclipse is when the moon is too far away from the Earth in its elliptical orbit to completely cover the disk of the sun. So during an eclipse the new moon is too small.
Saturday’s eclipse, though impressive, was but a warm-up to a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024 across parts of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. A total solar eclipse is when the new moon is exactly the right distance from Earth to completely cover the disk of the sun for a few minutes.
From parts of 15 U.S. states that day—Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine—it will be possible to see a partial solar eclipse like everywhere else in the Americas, but with a strange totality for a few minutes in the middle of the event.
During totality it’s possible to see the sun’s majestic corona—its hotter, outer atmosphere—with the naked eye. The sky will turn a deep twilight as a 360º sunset ensures, insects will screech, birds nosily roost and planets appear.
The countdown has begun to this next eclipse in just 177 days.
I’m an expert on eclipses—the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024. For the very latest on April 8, 2024’s total solar eclipse—including travel and lodging options—check my main feed for new articles.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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