Partial Solar Eclipse Thursday

This Thursday, October 23rd, 2014, the moon will pass in front of the sun without totally blocking it out. This partial solar eclipse will be visible to almost everyone in the United States and Canada.  

On the left is an animation showing the view from above the Earth, looking down on the U.S. during the eclipse. The curved line sweeping around clockwise is the terminator, the day/night line. The big gray distorted circle is the physical shadow of the Moon. You can see that over time it moves roughly eastward and southward, the combination of its motion and the Earth’s spin. If you live anywhere inside the path of that shadow, you’ll see an eclipse. The closer you are to the center of the shadow, the more of the Sun will be blocked.

Phil Plait has more on the eclipse, and some safety advice on how to observe it at Bad Astronomy. It looks like I’ll be able to see it, just before the sun sets over the western horizon.


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