The April 8th eclipse started in Texas, and made its way through the midwest, in States including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, making its way up into Canada. Some even were able to see an eclipse in places like Ireland, and Northern Ireland. Most others in Europe did not get the chance to see the eclipse however.
There is another solar eclipse that is expected to make it’s way through the continental United States. This however is not the first in a while.
As many well know, unless you have been living under a rock, there was an eclipse where the path of totality went through South Carolina.
The last time a solar eclipse came through North America was not that long ago in 2017. We truly live in a time that is very special.
Scientists have said in fact that we may not see solar eclipses like this in the future. This means that we are on Earth at the opportune time to see a total eclipse.
Jorge Villa Vergas is a professor of astronomy at Georgia Southern University who traveled to watch the total eclipse. Vergas was excited to go to the eclipse.
Jon Schroder, a spectator of the event thought that is was a cool event to see, even if he was not in the path of totality, Appling, Georgia saw about an 80 percent eclipse.
There have been several others on social media that have been talking about this event taking place. As the Weather Channel put it, many were awe-struck to see this eclipse.
The eclipse on April 8, 2024 was not like the one that occurred in 2017. Eclipse in 2017 was a total solar eclipse, but the moon in its orbit was closer to the Earth than usual, so this opened the opportunity for the suns rays, along with the light that was reflected from the stars behind the sun to seep through.
The most recent eclipse however, the sun and the moon were lined up just right to the point that the moon completely blocked out the Sun’s light, and you could see some of the stars that were behind the sun, from the light that was refracted from it.
If you were blessed enough to be in the path of the total solar eclipse at the time, it was basically like experiencing the night time, in the middle of the afternoon. A very neat experience.
The April 8th eclipse certainly was worth all the hype that led up to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse
During the eclipse the sun is blocked out by the moon, and there is a shadow that is cast on the earth. Because the moon is not as big as the sun, there are some places that did not see the eclipse, and for some it was just after sunset, so it was simply a new moon for them.
Georgia Southern University has its own planetarium on campus that features a dome room with special projectors that can project onto a dome ceiling. This presents a cool picture, and more anatomically correct image if you are looking from the Earth to the skies.
This experience is good for all ages to go to, in fact they have several events that they put on every month.
The planetarium is a very educational place to go if you want to know when the moon will again be in just the right position to cast a shadow in front of the sun, blocking out its view.
Just incase you were wondering why some did not see the solar eclipse, and some only saw a partial eclipse is because the moon is not as large as the sun, and also the Earth is larger than the moon, this means that Some people will not see an eclipse, while others, that are closer to the path of totality will see the effects of the moon blocking the view of the sun.
Patrick Vereen, a spectator from Savannah, Georgia said that he was at work during the process of the solar eclipse, he said that it got darker than normal in the afternoon, but not super dark.
Some compared this U.V. decrease to looking through a pair of sunglasses. Logan Winstrop, who is a student at Georgia Southern University said “it was like you were looking through a pair of sunglasses.” it was darker, but not super dark.
If you weren’t able to go to the last eclipse, or you simply want to know when the next one is. It will occur in 2041, and the path-of-totality will go through Tallahassee, and Orlando Florida.