Ukrainians, unfortunately, will not be able to look at it with their own eyes, but they will still be able to see it thanks to the online broadcast. In the meantime 24 Channel has prepared some interesting facts about the most anticipated space event of the first half of 2024.
Don’t miss the Total Solar Eclipse 2024: how and where to watch online on April 8
This is the longest solar eclipse since 2010
After the Moon’s central shadow touches the Earth at sunrise in the Pacific Ocean near Starbuck Island in Kiribati, it will cross the Earth in 3 hours and 16 minutes before disappearing at sunset in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores.
For those in the path of the eclipse, it will bring the longest eclipse on land (4 minutes 28 seconds) since the total solar eclipse on July 11, 2010 on Easter Island/Rapa Nui.
Best place to watch
Within any total eclipse path there is a central point, the point of maximum eclipse, where a total solar eclipse will be observed around noon (local time), when the Sun and Moon will be at their highest points in the sky. This is where the geometry of the Sun, Moon and Earth are precisely aligned, meaning the shadow moves at its slowest – and therefore the longest eclipse.
On April 8, this point will be only 6 kilometers north of Nazas village with a population of 3,600 people, which is in the Mexican state of Durango. From here, the total eclipse will last 4 minutes and 28 seconds.
The area of the eclipse is 16 thousand kilometers
The path of the eclipse will be approximately 16,000 kilometers, of which less than half will pass by land. It will cross North America – Mexico, the US and Canada – in 100 minutes, spending 68 minutes passing through parts of 15 US states.
This solar eclipse is part of a repeating eclipse cycle.
Solar eclipses occur in groups called saros (Greek for repetition). Every 6,585.3 days, the Moon’s shadow falls on the Earth in approximately the same proportions as the previous one.. The only reason it doesn’t occur in the same place is because at 0.3 days (about 8 hours) the Earth rotates a little.
The total solar eclipse on April 8 is part of Saros 139which 6,585.3 days earlier, on March 29, 2006, created an almost identical eclipse for Africa and Asia.
The next Saros 139 eclipse will take place after 2024 April 20, 2042when the total eclipse will be visible from Indonesia, East Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.
However, every fourth repetition (54 years), a total solar eclipse occurs in approximately the same place, which is called Exeligmos:
- March 7, 1970: Mexico, USA (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Massachusetts) and Canada (Nova Scotia and Newfoundland);
- May 11, 2078: Mexico, USA (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia).
Read on the website Here are five strange things that happen during a solar eclipse
UK residents will be the last to see the solar eclipse
Few will notice, but this total solar eclipse for North America ends on the west coast of the UK. On April 8, sunset will begin from the west coast of Wales, England and Scotland, where a tiny piece of the sun will be visible during the smallest of the partial solar eclipses. This will require a very low horizon level – in practice, the ocean horizon – as well as clear skies.
