PHOTOS: NASA, GETTY, ALAMYBELOW: Faurot Field, home to the
Missouri University Tigers football team,
hosted an eclipse-viewing eventhe date is etched in the brains of eclipse
enthusiasts: 21 August 2017. On that
Monday, for the first time in nearly 40
years, the path of a total solar eclipse cut right
across the US. For about two and a half minutes,
the Moon completely covered the face of the
Sun, turning day into night.
For thousands of years, solar eclipses were
seen as shocking and fearful events; our
ancestors would witness them and wonder if the
world was coming to an end. Today, eclipses no
longer take us by surprise: astronomers can
calculate when an eclipse will occur hundreds of
years in advance. Knowing the physics behind
an eclipse, however, doesn’t diminish the
spectacle. A total solar eclipse is, quite simply, a
spellbinding event, one of the most captivating
phenomena the natural world has to offer.
People that have never seen a total eclipse
might question what all the fuss is about, says
astronomer, author and photographer Alan Dyer.
“They think it just gets dark, the same way it
does every night. No! A total eclipse is unlike
anything you’ve experienced,” says Dyer, who’s
seen 15 total eclipses over the past 40 years.
“You see, hear and feel a total solar eclipse.
Experience one and you’ll be hooked.”CHEAP THRILLS
There’s another bonus: an eclipse can be
enjoyed without any expensive astronomical
equipment; you don’t need to go out and
purchase a telescope or even a pair of
binoculars. A word of caution is in order, though.
During the partial phases of the eclipse, when
some portion of the Sun’s disc remains visible,
it’s not safe to view directly without eclipse
glasses or equipment fitted with a certified solar
filter. But when the Moon is completely covering
the Sun – during the total phase of the eclipse –
you can gawk at it safely. You can even use
binoculars or take photographs with a telephoto
lens (again, that’s only during totality).
It’s been a long wait for the Moon to cast its
shadow on US soil again. The last time it
happened was back in 1991, when it landed in
Hawaii but didn’t reach the mainland. Prior to
that it was 1979, when observers in the
contiguous 48 states last saw a total eclipse,and even then it was only visible from the
northwestern corner of the country.
The situation for eclipse observers was very
different in August. The path of totality- the narrow zone within which the total eclipse
is visible – was just 110km (68 miles) wide, but
stretched from coast to coast, running from
Oregon to South Carolina.
During a solar eclipse, the Moon’s shadow
(think of it as a long, narrow cone that points
away from the Sun) makes contact with Earth’s
surface. Since Earth rotates east to west, the
Moon’s shadow travels along in the opposite
direction, running from west to east. After
making landfall on Oregon’s Pacific coast, the
shadow continues east through the Rockies and
on into the nation’s heartland. It continues its
eastward rush, crossing the Appalachian
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