Mexico will witness a total solar eclipse again after 33 years

Practically 33 years later, Mexico will once again witness a total solar eclipse. On Monday, April 8, the astronomical event can be observed in various parts of the country in whole or in part.

This Friday morning, some details were given about what this unique event will be — the next one that will be seen in our country will be until March 30, 2052.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador considered that it will be “an exceptional, very important phenomenon.”

Miguel Chávez Dagostino, researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), explained that a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the orbit between the earth and the sun, which causes its shadow to be reflected on part of our planet.

For his part, Manuel Corona, also a researcher at the INAOE, reported that the total eclipse will occur in three states of the country (it will be observed at 100 percent): Sinaloa, Coahuila and Durango; while at other points it will be partial and between 90 to 50 percent will be observed.

In Mexico City the bias will be 74.74 percent and in Puebla — where the historic Tonantzintla observatory is located, founded by the prominent Mexican astronomer Luis Enrique Erro — 70.44 percent.

The scientists warned not to observe the event directly, but to use certified filters, nor to see through cell phones (taking photos or video), telescopes or binoculars, in reflection by mirrors or water, nor veiled films, dark glasses, through the clouds or sunglasses, among others, as it could cause partial or total blindness.

The first to define that an eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the earth and the sun was the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, in the year 428 before our era, that is, for more than 2,500 years it has been known that the reason It is the shadow of the Moon.

Observation of the sky has been inherent to human beings; the cosmos has been an object of curiosity for millennia.

According to the head of the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology, María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, sky observation has left knowledge as in agriculture.

Furthermore, “wonderful mythological exploitations were built to give meaning to eclipses. The Mayans described how in terms of the bite of the sun, they imagined a monster that gave that bite.