There will be a total solar eclipse today. Unfortunately, it will not be visible in Europe. Preparations are underway in the United States and Canada for an event that will briefly turn the sky dark during the day.
Today some people will be able to watch a total solar eclipse. Over a narrow section of Mexico, the United States and Canada, the sky will become dark for a moment, the temperature will drop slightly, and a glowing “corona” will be visible around the solar disk.
According to meteorologists, the weather will not be favorable to observers everywhere. In Texas, the sky may be covered with clouds, heralding the arrival of violent storms. Severe conditions are also forecast in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Mexico. Fewer clouds will appear in Canada and the northeastern United States, and this is where the most favorable viewing conditions are expected.
Monday’s eclipse
The solar eclipse will begin in the Pacific Ocean near the Kiribati islands, and a few minutes after 12 p.m. local time (in Poland it will be after 8 p.m.) it will be possible to observe it from Mexico. After 1:30 p.m. it will appear over Texas, and then in other US states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and Maine.
The eclipse will then be visible along the border with Canada. In Canada, the band where the total solar eclipse will be visible is about 200 kilometers wide and runs through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.
The total eclipse phase, as Damian Jabłeka, deputy director of the Silesian Planetarium, explained, “will last about 4.5 minutes in Mexico, slightly shorter in the USA and will shorten on the way to Canada, where it will last 3.5 minutes.” The event will end at 21.55 Polish time over the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Solar eclipse April 8, 2024Mateusz Krymski/PAP
Solar eclipse – how does it happen?
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun and completely or partially obscures the face of our day star. In this configuration, the Moon is in a new moon, but not every new moon causes an eclipse, because the orbit of the Earth’s natural satellite is slightly tilted relative to the plane of our planet’s orbit and the Moon in the sky is usually above or below the solar disk.
The length of the eclipse depends on the ratio of the distances of the Moon and the Sun from the place of observation. – When the Moon is closest to the Earth, i.e. it seems the largest in the sky, and the Earth is farthest from the Sun, then it will have a larger disk than the solar disk and will cover the star longer – explained Damian Jabłeka.
In Poland, the last total solar eclipse was visible in 1954 (Suwałki, Sejny), and the next one will take place in 2135. Earlier, in 2075 and 2093, we will have annular eclipses in Poland. We will have to wait much shorter for a total solar eclipse on the European continent. There will be an opportunity to observe it in August 2026, when it will be visible in Iceland, Spain and part of Portugal. There will then be a partial eclipse in Poland.
Solar eclipsePAP/NASA
PAP, AP, timeanddate.com, tvnmeteo.pl
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