Total Solar Eclipse: Last until 2015
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Last Solar Eclipse until 2015?
Well, I wonder how many of you saw my post yesterday and were able to either see it in person or to watch it via the internet? Or, did you catch it on your news channel? I can’t believe that this is the last one until 2015, and for those that were able to experience it, please share your thoughts.
The skies over a slice of northern Australia will darken for a few minutes today as the planet experiences its first total solar eclipse in more than two years.
Today’s total solar eclipse — the first since July 2010 and the last until March 2015 — begins at 3:35 p.m. ET (20:35 GMT) today, which corresponds to shortly after dawn Wednesday (Nov. 14) local time in Australia. Weather permitting, will be visible from slivers of the continent’s Northern Territory and state of Queensland, as well as a large, empty stretch of the Pacific Ocean.
More than 50,000 spectators are expected to watch the celestial event from Queensland, according to tourism officials. But forecasts of cloudy weather may put a damper on their viewing experience, according to media reports.
Most of the world’s population will be far from the eclipse’s path. But anyone with access to the Internet can follow the action live, for several organizations will provide free webcasts of the alignment of sun and moon. Two such outfits are Tourism Tropical North Queensland and the Slooh Space Camera, which will begin their broadcasts at 1 p.m. ET (18:00 GMT) and 2:30 p.m. ET (19:30 GMT) on Tuesday, respectively.
You can watch both webcasts of the total solar eclipse live here at SPACE.com.
An unforgettable experience
Observers in parts of Asia, the Pacific and western North America were treated to a“ring of fire” annular eclipse this past May.
The next total solar eclipse occurs in March 2015 and will be visible from some areas in the North Atlantic region, such as Norway’s Svalbard Islands. However, a so-called “hybrid” eclipse — which shifts between total and annular at different points on the globe — will come to parts of the Atlantic and central Africa in November 2013.
Observing an eclipse is a special experience most skywatchers — and scientists — never forget. Tuesday’s event will be the 56th solar eclipse that Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff has seen in his career, for example, but he still finds each one thrilling.
“Oh, each one is very exciting — each in its own way,” Pasachoff told SPACE.com via email. “It is very wonderful to be uncovering part of the mysteries about the sun’s atmosphere and magnetic field, and to be outdoors surrounded by the darkening of a solar eclipse is a primally fabulous experience.”
The eclipse isn’t the only celestial treat skywatchers can look forward to this week. The annual Leonid meteor shower, which has produced some truly spectacular shows over the years, peaks overnight Saturday (Nov. 17).
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Stay Tuned. God Bless.