09:24 PM Sunday 07 April 2024
Books – Muhammad Fathi:
Solar eclipse, April 8, 2024. These words topped search engines on social media, coinciding with the sighting of this phenomenon in some countries of the world tomorrow, Monday, April 8, when the new moon will appear “at the beginning of the month of Shawwal,” and the moon will not be visible in the sky all night on that day; Marking the beginning of the birth of the new moon.
It is expected that the moon will rise with the sun and set completely with it, so that its bright side will be facing the sun and its dark side will be facing the Earth.
A total solar eclipse will occur tomorrow, Monday, April 8. A solar eclipse never occurs unless the moon is at a new moon. In the case of a total eclipse, the moon’s disk completely obscures the sun’s disk, revealing to us the outer shell of the sun known as the solar corona or corona, according to the Institute for Astronomical Research.
This eclipse will not be seen in Egypt or the Arab region, but it will be seen in Mexico, the United States of America, and Canada. The path of the total eclipse will start from the Pacific Ocean and move through parts of Mexico, then the eastern United States and Canada, and it will be visible as a partial eclipse in some European countries, according to the institute.
It is expected that the duration of the complete eclipse from its beginning to its end will be about 5 hours, that is, from the beginning of the moon’s disk gradually entering the sun’s disk until it completely covers it, then gradually moving away until it leaves it completely. As for complete darkness, its duration will only be about 4 minutes during which day will turn. Until dark night, some stars are clearly visible in the sky, according to the Institute of Astronomical Research.
These few minutes of a total solar eclipse are the only time we can see the sun’s background stars, which represent the sign in which the sun is located at this time of the year, which is Pisces.
Then, on April 10, the two planets Mars, “the red planet,” and Saturn, “the pearl of the solar system,” will pair up, where they can be seen with the naked eye in the early morning, before sunrise on that day.
The noticeable approach of the two planets can be observed starting from the first of the month until the conjunction on that day, then the beginning of the noticeable divergence from each other starting on April 13.
The moon is scheduled to be visible on April 10 in conjunction with the planet Jupiter, “the giant of the solar system,” where we see them side by side in the sky immediately after sunset and entering the night, and they will remain visible until the scene begins to set at approximately 8:20 p.m.
On April 11, the moon will be seen in conjunction with the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, where we see them with the healthy naked eye side by side in the sky immediately after sunset and the onset of night, and they will remain visible until the scene begins to set at approximately 9:15 pm.
On April 15, the moon will be seen in conjunction with the star “Pollux,” the brightest star in the sign of Gemini (Alpha Twin), as we see them with the healthy naked eye side by side in the sky immediately after sunset and the onset of night, until the scene begins to set at 1:15 after midnight. Note that Pollux is a giant orange star about 3 times larger than the Sun and about 34 light-years away from Earth.
It is expected that the moon will be in conjunction on April 16 with the beehive star cluster in Cancer. Since it is difficult to see this cluster with the naked eye, we recommend using a small telescope, where we can see it next to the moon in the sky until the scene begins to set at 2:00 after midnight. .
It is noteworthy that seeing the new crescent with the naked eye depends mainly on the period of time that the newborn moon remains in the sky during dusk immediately after sunset. Its vision also depends on the purity of the atmosphere, the clarity of the sky, and its absence of clouds, dust, and water vapor.
New moon days are the best nights during the months of the year, which astronomers often prefer to observe faint celestial bodies such as: galaxies, star clusters, and stars of distant constellations, as the moonlight at this time does not hinder the required spectral observations.
On April 6, the moon was in conjunction with both: Saturn, “the pearl of the solar system,” and Mars, “the red planet,” in the early morning before sunrise on that day.
The three objects are visible with the unaided eye in the eastern sky at approximately 4:20 a.m. until the scene disappears in the intensity of the morning twilight light due to sunrise.
On April 7, the moon was in conjunction with the planet Venus, “the brightest planet in the solar system.” They were seen with the naked eye side by side in the sky toward the east just before sunrise on that day.
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2024-04-07 19:24:00
