It’s Time to Revisit the Solar Eclipse

 Did you observe the total solar eclipse that moved across North America on April 8, 2024?

Photo by Rick Meyers on Unsplash

A total eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. The regions with the umbra as you can see in the image below, are where totality could be observed.

Image from Time and Date

This time, totality happened along the stretch of Mexico, Canada and the US. These happen occasionally because the Moon does not orbit on the same plane that the Earth orbits the sun.

Image from City of Port Colborne

Let’s focus on some specific parts of the total eclipse. First, we have Bailey’s Beads! This is essentially the moon’s bumpy terrain creates gaps where sunlight is able to pass through only seconds before totality of the eclipse occurs.

Image from NASA Science

Now, let’s look at the different structures that become visible. The white glow that is evident in all the images you may have seen is the Sun’s corona, which only becomes visible during a total solar eclipse as the moon blocks all the bright light that usually overwhelms the glow of the gas surrounding the Sun. It is the outer layer of the solar atmosphere that is made up of plasma which is ionized gas, the mixture of electrons and nucleus when atoms lose their electrons at high temperatures.

Image from Britannica

Prominences can also be seen which are structures from cooled plasma, as well as helmet streamers, that are long pointed peaks of the plasma. However, it was cloudy in many of the regions this year, which made it difficult to observe these specific coronal structures.

Image from NASA

Another interesting thing is that shadows become sharper during solar eclipses, specifically during the period of partiality. Shadows cast by objects become sharper in the direction of the crescent-shaped Sun and blurrier in other directions. As the sun gets more covered, the light rays were more linear, allowing for sharper shadows in that direction.

Hope you learnt something about the eclipse regardless if you were able to witness it!