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Solar Treat: Total Eclipse of the Sun July 11
A total solar eclipse on July 11 has the potential to give some ground-based observers a stunning five-minute celestial show, but you'd almost have to go to ends of the Earth to try and see it.
Solar eclipses occur when the moon gets between the sun and Earth, blotting out some or all of the sun.
While the moon's dark cone of shadow (called the umbra) will pass more than one-third of the way around the Earth during this solar eclipse, virtually the entire ground track for the event falls over the remote open ocean waters of the South Pacific. Land encounters will be very few and generally far between.
(This graphic shows the ground track depicting where this total eclipse of 2010 will be visible from and when.)
For astronomers, total solar eclipses provide an opportunity to observe the pearly white corona, or outer atmosphere, of the sun. They occur when the moon comes between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun from our persepective.
The corona's brightness is only about one-millionth as bright as sunlight, but when the moon completely obscures the visible disk of the sun the corona shines out in magnificent splendor.
Today, we needn't wait for an eclipse to observe the corona — astronomers use an instrument called the coronagraph, developed in 1930 by the French astronomer, Bernard Lyot to observe the brighter, inner part of the corona. But the beauty and awesomeness of a total eclipse are still unequaled and is why some will travel long distances, to remote parts of the earth or on the ocean to experience this glorious spectacle. [Solar Eclipse Photos]
Story of the shadow
On July 11, the moon's shadow will touch down at local sunrise about 870 miles (1,400 km) northeast of the North Island of New Zealand and only three minutes later will sail through the Cook Islands, narrowly missing the most populated (Rarotunga), but passing over the second largest (Mangaia). Weather permitting, it should afford the 1,900 who live there a 3-minute, 18-second view of a totally eclipsed sun.
After another 10 minutes, the umbra will glide east-northeast past the Society Islands, barely missing the island of Tahiti by a mere 15 miles (25 km). If you are stationed on the south coast of Tahiti Iti, "Little Tahiti," you would see 99.3-percent of the sun's diameter blocked by the new moon.
About five minutes later, the dark lunar shadow will take a roughly 15-minute trek through French Polynesia into the Tuamotu Archipelago – the largest chain of atolls in the world, spanning an area roughly the size of western Europe.
When the umbra departs the Tuamotus at around 18:48 UT, it will spend the next 83 minutes traveling 2,000 miles (3,300 km) over the lonely waters of the South Pacific. At 19:33:31 UT, literally in the middle of nowhere, the total phase of the eclipse will reach its maximum duration: an exceptionally long 5 minutes, 20 seconds.
However, unless you're on a properly positioned boat or aircraft, this prolonged view of the sun's corona will go unseen.
A total solar eclipse on July 11 has the potential to give some ground-based observers a stunning five-minute celestial show, but you'd almost have to go to ends of the Earth to try and see it.
Solar eclipses occur when the moon gets between the sun and Earth, blotting out some or all of the sun.
While the moon's dark cone of shadow (called the umbra) will pass more than one-third of the way around the Earth during this solar eclipse, virtually the entire ground track for the event falls over the remote open ocean waters of the South Pacific. Land encounters will be very few and generally far between.
(This graphic shows the ground track depicting where this total eclipse of 2010 will be visible from and when.)
For astronomers, total solar eclipses provide an opportunity to observe the pearly white corona, or outer atmosphere, of the sun. They occur when the moon comes between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun from our persepective.
The corona's brightness is only about one-millionth as bright as sunlight, but when the moon completely obscures the visible disk of the sun the corona shines out in magnificent splendor.
Today, we needn't wait for an eclipse to observe the corona — astronomers use an instrument called the coronagraph, developed in 1930 by the French astronomer, Bernard Lyot to observe the brighter, inner part of the corona. But the beauty and awesomeness of a total eclipse are still unequaled and is why some will travel long distances, to remote parts of the earth or on the ocean to experience this glorious spectacle. [Solar Eclipse Photos]
Story of the shadow
On July 11, the moon's shadow will touch down at local sunrise about 870 miles (1,400 km) northeast of the North Island of New Zealand and only three minutes later will sail through the Cook Islands, narrowly missing the most populated (Rarotunga), but passing over the second largest (Mangaia). Weather permitting, it should afford the 1,900 who live there a 3-minute, 18-second view of a totally eclipsed sun.
After another 10 minutes, the umbra will glide east-northeast past the Society Islands, barely missing the island of Tahiti by a mere 15 miles (25 km). If you are stationed on the south coast of Tahiti Iti, "Little Tahiti," you would see 99.3-percent of the sun's diameter blocked by the new moon.
About five minutes later, the dark lunar shadow will take a roughly 15-minute trek through French Polynesia into the Tuamotu Archipelago – the largest chain of atolls in the world, spanning an area roughly the size of western Europe.
When the umbra departs the Tuamotus at around 18:48 UT, it will spend the next 83 minutes traveling 2,000 miles (3,300 km) over the lonely waters of the South Pacific. At 19:33:31 UT, literally in the middle of nowhere, the total phase of the eclipse will reach its maximum duration: an exceptionally long 5 minutes, 20 seconds.
However, unless you're on a properly positioned boat or aircraft, this prolonged view of the sun's corona will go unseen.
