This time, the total eclipse belt passes through practically the least accessible area in the world; in Antarctica. It also extends to areas around the shores of the Filchner-Ronne shelf glacier, located in the southern part of the Weddell Sea, reports The Daily Mail.
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In addition to the Weddell Sea, the total eclipse belt extends into South Orkney.
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There, the probability of seeing the phenomenon is low due to the weather forecast, the situation is complicated by the pandemic, yet several cruise ships with enthusiasts and scientific expeditions have set out for these parts.
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Observations from the plane
Petr Horálek, a photographer and popularizer of astronomy from the Institute of Physics of the Silesian University in Opava, is also a member of the international documentation mission.
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The phenomenon will be observed at an altitude of 12 kilometers above the Earth in a special flight of Chilean airlines in cooperation with astronomers from the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
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“One of the purposes of the expedition is to acquire unique audiovisual material for the documentary production of students of Multimedia Techniques at the Institute of Physics in Opava,” Horálek noted.
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According to him, the observation will take place at the beginning of the eclipse belt, southeast of the Falkland Islands.
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“If all goes well, the phenomenon will be observed and recorded from the plane’s deck low above the horizon, but not behind the clouds. It is the altitude of the flight that gives 97 percent hope of a completely successful observation of the phenomenon. It will be possible to capture not only the solar eclipse itself, but also the dark moon’s shadow moving slowly on the earth’s surface, “he described.
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Visibility map of a total solar eclipse on December 4, 2021
Photo: Greatamericaneclipse.com
The eclipse itself occurs shortly after 8:00 Central European Time and lasts a minute and 44 seconds. The planet Mercury will be close to the Sun.
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“The biggest attraction is the observation of the so-called solar corona, a faint envelope surrounding the Sun with a shape influenced by the current solar magnetic field,” the astronomer added.
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The next total solar eclipse will not occur until April 8, 2024, but unlike this week’s event, it will be widely visible in parts of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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A total eclipse over the Czech Republic in 2135
As the Czech Astronomical Society (ČAS) reminds on its website, Central Europe is almost avoided by total eclipses.
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Specifically, the people of Prague were able to observe this phenomenon for the last time on May 12, 1706, another one awaits us in the Czech Republic on October 7, 2135, when the belt of totalitarianism will run 30 kilometers north of Prague.
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In Europe, it was last possible to observe a total eclipse in 1990, but only in the northern parts of Finland, and in 1999, when the belt of totalitarianism cut through practically the whole of Europe, but not the Czech Republic.
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In the next four years or so, eclipses in Europe will be completely avoided, but it will be possible to observe many partial eclipses, which will reach relatively significant magnitudes.
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According to Horálek, who is the author of the article on the ČAS website, a relatively unique period will occur in Spain between 2026 and 2028.
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In August 2026 there will be a total solar eclipse in the evening, a year later in the morning in the south of the country (Egypt will be the second longest in this century) and in January 2028 an annular, which will be seen again at sunset by the people of Spain.
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The first two will be visible in our country as well, but only in their partial phase.
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List of solar eclipses until 2030, which we will see in the Czech Republic as partial:
- Partial solar eclipse on October 25, 2022
- Partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025
- Total solar eclipse August 12, 2026 (partial in the Czech Republic)
- Total solar eclipse August 2, 2027 (partial in the Czech Republic)
- Partial solar eclipse on June 12, 2029
- Annular solar eclipse on June 1, 2030 (partial in the Czech Republic)
The nearest eclipse in the world:
- Total Solar Eclipse December 4, 2021 – Visible from Antarctica
- Partial Solar Eclipse April 30, 2022 – Visible from Antarctica, South America and the Pacific
- Partial solar eclipse on October 25, 2022 (visible in the Czech Republic) – visible from Europe, North Africa and East Asia
- Hybrid Solar Eclipse April 20, 2023 – Visible from Australia and Papua New Guinea
- Annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 – visible from the west of the USA, Central America, Colombia, Brazil
- Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024 – Visible from the Central Pacific, Mexico, USA, Canada and the Arctic Ocean
Top left: annular solar eclipse. Top right: complete. Bottom left: hybrid (from two places). Bottom right: partial.
Foto: Dennis Mannama – APOD, Fred Espenak (2x), Stephan Heinsius – APOD, National Geographic
| Total solar eclipse they can be seen by people located in a narrow belt on Earth (maximum 270 km wide) called the belt of totality. During the phenomenon, the Moon in the sky is angularly larger than the Sun (the Moon is in its orbit around the Earth near the so-called ground floor) and thus completely covers the solar disk. Such an eclipse can last a maximum of 7 and a half minutes, but usually does not reach a length of even 4 minutes. |
| Annular solar eclipse people can also see in a narrow belt on Earth (maximum 350 km wide) called the belt of annularity. At the phenomenon, the lunar disk in the sky is angularly smaller (it is usually in its orbit from the Earth or near the so-called earth) and thus does not cover the entire Sun even when crossing in front of the center of the solar disk. Thus, around the Moon, at the maximum phase in the annularity band, lies the ring of our parent star. An annular eclipse can last a maximum of 12 and a half minutes (when the Moon reaches less than 92 percent of the angular solar diameter), but usually does not last longer than 6 minutes. |
| Hybrid solar eclipse is a very rare combination of a total and annular eclipse. It can be observed by people in a very narrow strip, a maximum of 60 km wide. During a hybrid eclipse, the Moon is so far from the Earth that at some point its angular diameter in the sky is almost indistinguishable from the solar. The hybrid eclipse begins as an annular (due to the curvature of the Earth, the focus of the moon’s shadow on the peripheral peripheries of the Earth does not touch). At a certain point in the belt, it then begins to change to full, but its length is measured in seconds or even hundredths of a second. |
| Partial solar eclipse can be observed by people over a large area of the Earth. The moon does not cover the entire sun disk during the event. A complete, annular or hybrid eclipse is preceded by a partial eclipse, in which the Moon gradually (an hour) covers an ever-increasing area of the solar disk. The maximum of the phenomenon is followed by the opposite process: the moon gradually recedes, revealing an ever-increasing area of the sun. Outside the belt of totalitarianism or annularity, people will see only a partial eclipse. |
| source: Czech Astronomical Society |
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