Solar Eclipse on 21st August 2017
How to Make a Pinhole Projector to View the Solar Eclipse?
The solar eclipse that will occur on August 21, 2017 is the first total solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. since 1979. In a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth and blocks our view of the sun. The sun is 400 times the size of the moon and 400 times farther away from Earth, so when the moon crosses in front of the sun at just the right point in its elliptical orbit, the smaller moon lines up with the sun and can appear to completely block the sun, leaving only the ring of the corona of the sun's outer atmosphere visible.
The path of the moon during a total solar eclipse is referred to as the path of totality. If you are in the path of totality, you can see a total solar eclipse; if you are outside of the path of totality but still in a viewing area, you will see a partial eclipse. The moon's trajectory during the coming eclipse will cross the U.S. from coast to coast, making the August 2017 solar eclipse a rare astronomical viewing opportunity for students in the United States. The last eclipse visible in parts of the U.S. was in February 1979. The last time a solar eclipse was visible from coast to coast in the U.S. was June 1918! The next total eclipse viewable in the U.S. will be in 2024.
People who live in the path of totality during the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse will see the sun obscured by and then completely blocked by the moon over the course of a few (2-3) hours. For people viewing the eclipse in these areas, the sun will appear to "go dark." The amount of time the moon will appear to block the sun during a total solar eclipse is called the "duration of totality" and will vary by location (and varies by eclipse). According to Space.com, the "maximum duration of totality for this eclipse will be 2 minutes and 40 seconds." (The total solar eclipse on July 16, 2186 will be the longest on record and is projected to last 7 minutes, 29 seconds.)
According to NASA, in North America, the path of totality for the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse stretches from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. The Challenger Center site lists the following fourteen states as being in the path of totality: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Those who live outside of the path of totality will only see a partial eclipse of the sun, but the partial eclipse should be viewable throughout the U.S.
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