THIS captivating shot, showing the sun and full moon perfectly aligned over the Valley of the Gods in Utah last October, amps up anticipation for next month’s total solar eclipse in North America.
A collaboration between photographers Andrew McCarthy and Daniel Stein, the image shows an annular solar eclipse, where an outer “ring of fire” forms because the moon is too far from Earth to fully cover the sun. The shot is the result of thousands of images pieced together digitally, pairing Stein’s landscape photography skills with McCarthy’s experience at capturing images of the sun.
After months of planning, the pair got their crucial shots by positioning cameras and telescopes at a carefully selected desert location, taking into account aspects like weather patterns, eclipse duration and landscape features.
The image was released on social media on 8 March, exactly one month before a total solar eclipse will pass over North America, during which the moon will entirely cover the sun. It will shroud many parts of the continent – from Canada to the US and Mexico – in darkness, or totality. The path of totality is due to be much wider than the last such eclipse that occurred in the region: almost 200 kilometres will be covered, compared with about 115 kilometres in 2017.
“It’s easy to take the sun for granted… but when the [sun and moon] combine during an eclipse, it is breathtaking. We feel bringing in the landscape element then adds a sense of grounding to the image, allowing the viewer to really connect with the piece,” says Stein.
We are still trying to understand how animals respond to a solar eclipse
Ş. Uğur OKÇu/1001slide/iStockphoto/Getty Images
A total solar eclipse is impossible not to notice – the disc of the sun is completely covered by the moon, its shadow rushes across the surface of the earth, the temperature drops precipitously. Even animals seem to notice, and researchers around the world have studied how they react.
Researchers have observed all sorts of animals during solar eclipses, from wild hippopotamuses to pet dogs. Some of the most thorough studies, though, have been performed in zoos around the world.
Adam Hartstone-Rose at North Carolina State University and his colleagues performed one of the biggest such studies during the eclipse that crossed the US in 2017. “To be entirely honest, I didn’t think we were going to see anything interesting. Animals see clouds go overhead all of the time, occasionally it’s overcast – I didn’t think animals were going to care at all about this,” says Hartstone-Rose. “Astonishingly, three-quarters of the species that we watched had some sort of reaction.”
Most of those animals seemed to think it was nighttime during totality, the period in which the sun was completely hidden behind the moon. This might not come as a surprise to those who have witnessed a solar eclipse anywhere outdoors, as it has been known for centuries that birds and insects tend to quiet down and seek their nests.
“The gorillas usually hang out on the yard all day and then they go inside at night, so during totality the whole group of gorillas sort of marched over to the door and were perplexed why no one was letting them in,” says Hartstone-Rose. Similarly, he observed birds going to their roosts to bed down. Once totality ended, the gorillas and birds went back to their normal daytime activities. Past studies have also seen spiders taking down their webs during totality and bats briefly emerging from their daytime resting spots.
The other reaction that the researchers spotted in many of the animals was anxiety. “We have a lot of experience trying to assess anxiety in animals, especially in zoo animals, because we’re always trying to mitigate that,” says Hartstone-Rose. “So we’re very cognisant of behaviours that might indicate anxiety.”
These reactions can include pacing, huddling together and increased vocalisation. “Giraffes only run when they’re basically running for their lives, but during the eclipse some of the giraffes started running around like the sky was falling down,” says Hartstone-Rose. “A few animals had reactions like that.” Baboons, for example, were seen to cluster into groups and run around together.
Solar Eclipse 2024
On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.
A few animals performed completely novel behaviours – some Galapagos tortoises began mating during the eclipse, and all of them gazed up at the sky after totality had passed. Past studies of hippopotamuses have found that they, too, remained agitated even after the peak of an eclipse.
However, it is difficult to tell which animal behaviours are caused by the eclipse itself and which are a reaction to the crowds of people an eclipse draws – particularly in zoos, where animals and people are in close contact. For the same reason, it is difficult to reach conclusions about changes in pet behaviour during an eclipse.
Hartstone-Rose and his colleagues will be conducting another zoo study during the total solar eclipse on 8 April, observing some of the same species as last time to see if their behaviour matches, as well as collecting data on new species. They are also running a participatory science project through which anyone can report their observations of animals during the eclipse. By searching for patterns in animals’ behaviour during unusual events like eclipses, we may be able to understand their thought processes more generally.
Pink streaks called prominences appear during a total eclipse
Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images
There is no experience in life like witnessing a total eclipse of the sun. For a few moments, the sky goes dark, the air gets cold and the stars come out in the middle of the day. Some people will go through life never seeing one, but eclipse chasers like me can’t get enough.
The thrill of anticipating the next total eclipse comes from the fact that each one is totally unique. They can last anywhere from a single second to over 7 minutes, and they happen over varying types of geography and geology, usually over the sea.
The total solar eclipse on 8 April will only be visible to those in a path about 185 kilometres wide, where the sun will be completely eclipsed for up to 4 minutes and 26 seconds. Just before, during and after these magical minutes, those in the path of totality should look out for a range of phenomena. Clear skies allowing, here’s what to expect from a total solar eclipse:
Sunspots being covered by the moon
This is one sight that everyone across North America has a chance of seeing. At the moment, the sun is approaching the most active part of its cycle, called solar maximum, which lasts between 11 and 17 years. This means magnetic activity is as high as it gets, causing visible sunspots on the sun’s surface. If these dark, cool, magnetically complex regions are large enough, they can be seen at any time through eclipse glasses. Watching them gradually being covered by the moon during an eclipse is an interesting sight, even for those outside the path of totality.
Shadow bands on the ground
Between a couple of minutes and about 30 seconds before the sun becomes totally eclipsed, the from its surface, called the photosphere, comes from only a slim crescent. When this happens, it is sometimes possible to see wavy lines moving swiftly across light-coloured surfaces. “A [bed] sheet or other white-ish surface placed on the ground may show shadow bands,” says Frank Maloney at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. “These are due to that sliver of photospheric light that travels through our atmosphere and essentially ‘twinkles’ in roughly parallel bands.” Whether they become visible depends on the amount of turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere.
Solar Eclipse 2024
On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.
Darkness, Baily’s beads and the first diamond ring
Just before totality, the final 0.1 per cent of the sun disappears and the light levels crash. Now come the beads. “In the few seconds before and after totality, one may see Baily’s beads as the last bits of the sun can be seen shining through the moon’s irregular surface,” says Maloney. The final bead shines like a jewel for a second, just as the sun’s corona appears, creating a brief “diamond ring” effect around the moon. It is safe to look at the diamond ring without eclipse glasses, but most observers miss it because they still have them on.
Solar corona
Here it comes – one of the most glorious sights in all of nature. “During totality, when the sun’s photosphere is eclipsed, the other parts of the sun’s atmosphere, the white corona and the pink-purple chromosphere, become visible,” says Maloney. Darkness has arrived and you can safely remove your eclipse glasses and look with your naked eyes at the corona, which is expected to be spiky and star-like because the sun is nearing its most active phase of its cycle. You will see wispy extended tendrils in the corona, if you have binoculars.
Pinkish-red chromosphere and prominences
At the onset and just before the end of totality, you will see the chromosphere, the lower region of the sun’s atmosphere, as a pinkish band that disappears mid-eclipse and remerges on the other side as the moon moves across the sun. You are also likely to see prominences, pinkish-red towers, or loops of plasma and magnetic field structures protruding from the corona visible around the moon.
The second diamond ring
The most impactful diamond ring effect comes at the end of totality. Tiny beads of sunlight appear between the moon’s mountains and valleys before merging into one bright diamond ring, the appearance of which marks the end of totality. It is safe to look at for a few seconds, but as daylight returns it is necessary to put eclipse glasses back on if you want to continue looking at the partial phases.
As totality ends, shadow bands can sometimes be seen again. You will have at least another hour to watch the sun, and any sunspots, slowly being uncovered – with your eclipse glasses back on, of course.
Viewing a total solar eclipse is an experience that can stay with you for life, but, without the proper precautions, that could be for all the wrong reasons. Looking directly towards the sun is dangerous, so read on for how to view an eclipse safely and what you need to organise in advance.
On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible to over 42 million people across North America. The path of totality is only about 185 kilometres wide, touching parts of Mexico, 13 US states and Canada. Most people in North America will experience this event not as a total solar eclipse but as a partial.
“For those outside the path of totality, the moon will never fully cover the sun,” says Jeff Todd at Prevent Blindness, an eyecare advocacy group based in Chicago. Regardless of your vantage point, eye protection is essential.
“To avoid damaging your eyes, you need to wear eclipse glasses for the entire duration of the eclipse,” says Todd. Otherwise, you risk burning your retinas. Nicknamed “eclipse blindness”, this can happen without you feeling any pain and it can be permanent. It can take days after viewing the solar eclipse to realise anything is wrong. Sunglasses don’t provide adequate protection. However, it is perfectly safe to hold eclipse glasses over prescription glasses.
How to view the eclipse safely
For those who travel into the path of totality, the prize is a naked-eye view of the sun’s corona. However, it is only visible during the brief few minutes of totality. At all other times, the partial phases will be visible, which must be observed through eclipse glasses. Todd says that those inside the path of totality also need to wear eclipse glasses at all times except during totality, the short period when the sun is totally eclipsed by the moon and it gets dark. “Only then can you remove your eclipse glasses,” he said.
It is important that people inside the path of totality use their naked eyes to view the totally eclipsed sun. “You have to look without a protective filter, otherwise you will see nothing,” says Ralph Chou at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Solar Eclipse 2024
On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.
Just before the end of totality, light from the sun’s photosphere will stream between the mountains and valleys on the moon. Called Baily’s beads, they will appear for a few seconds and eventually become a “diamond ring” that flashes, revealing enough of the sun’s photosphere for daylight to return. “They provide plenty of warning that it is time to resume looking at the partial eclipse with a protective filter,” said Chou.
Which eclipse glasses should I get?
It is crucial to wear eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard, which applies to products intended to be used for direct viewing of the sun. “Look for ISO standard labelling and purchase your glasses from a trusted source,” says Todd. “Get your glasses early to ensure that you have them in time for the eclipse.” Before making a purchase, check that the company or brand is on the American Astronomical Society’s vetted list of suppliers and resellers.
Eclipse glasses must not be used with binoculars and telescopes. If you want to use these devices to view a solar eclipse, they must have a solar filter over their objective lens – the lens at the other end to the one you look through. You should never put solar filters or eclipse glasses between the eye and the eyepiece of a telescope or the eyecups of binoculars.
Other safe ways of viewing the eclipse include a pinhole projector – a simple device that projects the sun’s image through a small hole onto a piece of paper or cardboard. An even easier way is to make use of the well-defined small holes in a colander or spaghetti spoon, which will project small crescent suns onto any surface.
Eclipses happen due to an amazing cosmic coincidence that means the moon appears as large as the sun
Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP
People travel thousands of miles to see eclipses. There is nothing quite like the darkness that descends and the excitement that ripples through the crowd. A total solar eclipse will soon grace the skies across parts of Central and North America, with some locations outside the path of totality able to see a partial eclipse of the sun. So now is as good a time as any to ask: what exactly is a solar eclipse?
When one celestial body is obscured from view by another body that moves in between, astronomers refer to the event as an “occultation”. Technically, total solar eclipses are occultations of the sun by the moon.
A total solar eclipse happens when the moon and sun line up perfectly, such that the moon moves in front of the sun and blocks out nearly all of its light. When viewed from the path of totality – the stretch of Earth that will see the total eclipse – the sun all but disappears. This part of an eclipse can last for up to 7.5 minutes. The 8 April eclipse will last 4 minutes and 27 seconds.
What causes a solar eclipse?
There are many kinds of solar eclipse, but each happens when the moon passes in front of the sun, blocking out some or all of its light as viewed from a specific part of the planet. By sheer cosmic coincidence, the moon and the sun appear the same size in the sky because the moon is about 400 times as small as the sun, but the sun is about 400 times as far away. When the two line up perfectly during the new moon lunar phase – when the moon sits between Earth and the sun – the moon can block out the entirety of the sun’s light. This is a total solar eclipse.
During an eclipse of the sun, the moon casts two shadows. The middle part of the shadow, where no light reaches, is called the umbra. The outer partial shadow is known as the penumbra; here, only light that has come from part of the sun’s disc can reach. During a total eclipse, the path of totality is the stretch of land within the umbra. On 8 April, this path will be 185 kilometres wide, stretching across North America from Mexico, through the US and Canada. But the path of totality can be as narrow as 150 kilometres. The penumbra covers a much greater area, and in those places viewers will be able to see a partial solar eclipse.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
What are the different kinds of solar eclipse?
A partial eclipse happens when the moon just blocks out a portion of the sun’s light. This occurs when viewers are within the penumbra. Before and after totality, viewers can see the moon slowly encroaching on the sun in a partial eclipse. But there are also times when only a partial eclipse is visible from anywhere on Earth because the moon’s central shadow misses our planet completely.
An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon’s elliptical orbit puts it further from Earth than usual, so it obscures most of the sun’s light but leaves what is known as a ring of fire. Hybrid eclipses occur when a total eclipse is visible from some parts of the world, but an annular eclipse is visible from others. Total, hybrid and annular eclipses are all types of “central” eclipse, meaning the umbral shadow is cast somewhere on Earth.
Solar Eclipse 2024
On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.
How often do solar eclipses occur?
Each year, between two and five solar eclipses are visible somewhere around the world. Total solar eclipses happen, on average, every 18 months. But for a given spot on the planet, total eclipses of the sun are only seen every 400 years or so, since the portion of Earth from which each total eclipse is visible is so small.
What is a lunar eclipse?
A lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the shadow Earth casts into space. These events always occur during the moon’s full phase, when the moon is on the opposite side of the planet from the sun. But they don’t happen every full moon, because our moon’s orbit is tilted around Earth compared to Earth’s orbit around the sun.
Do eclipses always come in pairs?
Since eclipses are caused when Earth and the sun and moon line up in a row – in what is called syzygy – a solar eclipse is always accompanied by a lunar eclipse, either two weeks before or after. This year there will be a lunar eclipse on 24 March, two weeks before the 8 April solar eclipse. But it will be a penumbral lunar eclipse, meaning only Earth’s outer shadow will obscure the moon.
In a total solar eclipse the moon blocks out the light from the sun
Scott sady/tahoelight.com/Alamy
A total solar eclipse is coming to North America. On 8 April, the moon will pass between Earth and the sun, aligning perfectly to block out the sun’s entire disc in an event called totality. It will be visible from a thin strip of land spanning from Mexico across the US to Canada.
The eclipse will commence in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between North America and New Zealand, and it will begin to be visible on Mexico’s west coast at 8.42am local time. It will start as a partial eclipse, with the moon slowly moving to cover more and more of the sun. Totality will first be visible in Mexico at 9.38am local time.
As the sun and moon move across the sky, the eclipse will become visible in the US above a swathe of land about 185 kilometres wide, known as the path of totality. It will pass over 13 states, from Texas up through Maine, before crossing into southern Ontario in Canada. The last place on land from which the eclipse will be visible will be Newfoundland, and the appearance of the sun will go back to normal there at 5.16pm local time.
The duration of totality will vary by location, from less than 2 minutes to nearly 4.5 minutes. This is because the moon’s orbit around Earth isn’t perfectly circular – nor is Earth’s orbit around the sun – so the distances between the three celestial bodies will change throughout the day.
Solar Eclipse 2024
On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.
During a total solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow travels across the ground at speeds in excess of 2400 kilometres per hour, creating a dark spot that rushes along the ground. Temperatures in this shadow drop dramatically, the sky becomes strangely dark and planets and stars can become visible in the middle of the day. Total eclipses are important for scientists because they provide a rare opportunity to take measurements of the outermost layer of the sun, called the corona. This tenuous layer is difficult to observe normally, because it is so much dimmer than the sun’s disc.
Viewers in the areas just outside of the path of totality will still be able to see a solar eclipse, but it will only be partial, with the moon covering a smaller portion of the sun. The partial eclipse will last around 3 hours. Partial solar eclipses – including the period of a total eclipse just before and after totality – must be viewed through special solar filters. Such filters are available in the form of eclipse glasses; however, regular sunglasses cannot protect viewers’ eyes sufficiently. Do not look directly at the sun without a solar filter, even during a partial eclipse.
If you don’t have eclipse glasses, there is no need to despair. You can still see the partial eclipse, just not directly. Any object with holes in it, such as a colander or even a piece of paper with a pinhole, can be used to project an image of the eclipse’s shape on a screen or the ground. Even the spaces between leaves on the trees will speckle the ground with strange, shifting crescents of sunlight.
Filtered photos of the sun during an eclipse reveal stunning colours
S. Habbal/M. Druckmüller/Nasa
IN AUGUST 2017, scientists sailed a boat off South Carolina equipped with a weather balloon. The plan was to float it above the clouds for a guaranteed view of an impending total solar eclipse. Then, a terrible storm struck. “They were mostly trying to keep the boat from capsizing,” says Angela Des Jardins, a physicist at Montana State University who leads the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project.
The team behind this project had launched 55 balloons across the US in total. As these popped and parachuted back to Earth, many got caught in trees. It took weeks to get them back. “This time,” says Des Jardins, “we’re giving everyone a special tree pole.”
After a six-year wait, the next total solar eclipse over the US is almost here. First comes a practice run. On 14 October, an annular solar eclipse will see almost all of the sun blocked by the moon, leaving just a “ring of fire”. Then, on 8 April 2024, the real deal arrives – a total eclipse visible over a narrow strip of North America.
The latter offers a chance to see part of the sun usually hidden from view: its wispy, mysterious outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This is the birthplace of the solar wind that travels through our patch of space, sometimes causing aurorae and disrupting satellites. But we understand very little about it. The coming eclipses offer a unique, if fleeting, opportunity to study it. Over the past few years, researchers have been…
