16 DAYS UNTIL THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE!
The upcoming April 8th celestial rave has been dubbed the “Second Great American Eclipse,” the first having occurred on August 21, 2017. Both events have been infused with this sense of nationalistic fervor because during both eclipses almost everyone within the continental United States was (2017) or will be (2024) able to observe at least a partial eclipse, if not a total one. That fact should assuage some of the anguish that is currently tormenting those unable to travel to the totality path, the sinuous band within which one is only able to observe totality. Even if you are not observing within the totality path, you’ll still see something.
During the last few months, many people have asked, “Since we’re in Portland, we won’t see the eclipse, will we?” While it is true that Portlanders won’t see the total eclipse, the moon will still block most of the Sun (95%) at maximum. This obscuration value is so high because Portland is relatively close to the totality path. The obscuration percentage will diminish with increasing distance from this path. Please refer to the image below:
Note that even observers in the extreme Pacific Northwest can watch the moon blocking between 10-10% of the Sun at maximum eclipse. Key West sky watchers will see 40 -50% of the Sun blocked at maximum. As is true with all things astronomical, it’s all about location, location, and location. Everyone within the continental United States will see at least a partial eclipse.
Within the totality path, itself, one will also see variations, not in magnitude or obscuration, but in duration: how long totality will last. Here again, location is the key. The closer an observer moves toward the central line, the longer the totality duration will be. The below graphic shows the totality durations for various cities within the totality path. We can see that Dallas observers will enjoy 3 minutes, 51 seconds of totality, whereas Austin observers will have to be content with only 1 minute and 44 seconds.
To understand why the durations are so different, one must envision the moon’s shadow as a dark circle traveling across the path. A point toward the center part of the circle will remain within the shadow far longer than a point located toward its edge.
This traveling shadow circle will describe the entire totality path, which begins in the South Pacific. The path will first touch land around Matazlan, Mexico at 11:07 a.m. MT. The path will then cross the Mexico/USA border at 12:27 p.m. Central time (1:27 p.m. Eastern). After passing through the eastern United States, the moon’s shadow first crosses the Canadian border at 3:12 p.m. and straddles the border. It enters Maine at 3:28 p.m. ET and leaves at 3;35 p.m. The shadow then travels through New Brunswick, Quebec, over Prince Edward Island and reaches Newfoundland at 5:09 p.m. NT (Newfoundland Time = 3:39 p.m. ET)** The shadow exits Newfoundland around Gander at 5:16 p.m. NT (3:46 p.m. ET).
The totality path then ends in the North Atlantic.
Due to the path’s location and the widespread pre-event publicity, this eclipse might well be the most watched total solar eclipse in world history. While slightly more than thirty million people live within the totality path, the number of observers could well exceed fifty million! Perhaps “The Second Great American Eclipse” is a sensible sobriquet after all.
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