The next total solar eclipse, a rare and spectacular event, will take place on April 8th
The total solar eclipse is a rare but especially spectacular phenomenon that residents of the American continent will be able to witness on April 8th: Indeed, the Moon will be perfectly aligned with the Earth and the Sun, producing a total solar eclipse. Futura explains everything you need to know about this celestial spectacle!
The last alignment of the Moon with the Earth and the Sun, also visible from the American continent, occurred on October 14, 2023. However, the eclipse was not total because the Moon, then located at a point in its orbit close to the Earth, appeared slightly smaller than the solar disk in the sky, only partially obscuring it. Sky watchers were able to admire the formation of a ring of fire around the lunar disk (this is called an annular eclipse), and a decrease in the Sun's brightness reaching up to 10% of its usual brightness at the eclipse's peak.
The solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, will plunge certain regions into total darkness for several minutes: this time, the Moon will be slightly farther from the Earth, and the lunar disk will be able to completely eclipse the solar disk. This is then called a total solar eclipse.
While the phenomenon will undoubtedly be sensational, it will only be easily observable from Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The eclipse's path of totality will be relatively narrow, stretching in a northeast direction from the Pacific coast of Mexico to the Atlantic coast of southern Canada.
It will notably pass through the cities of Mazatlan and Torreon in Mexico, Kerville, Dallas, or Cleveland in the United States, and Montreal in Canada. In regions bordering the eclipse's path of totality, the solar disk will only be partially obscured by the Moon. The decrease in brightness will be less and less intense as one moves away: for example, the city of Seattle in the northwest United States will experience a decrease in brightness of only about 25%. NASA has provided an interactive map to estimate the eclipse's intensity from a given observation point.
Observers located near the Pacific coast of Mexico will be able to begin observing the eclipse at 11:07 a.m. PDT (or 8:07 p.m. French time), while observers located on the Atlantic coast of Canada will be able to observe the eclipse exit the American continent at 5:16 p.m. NDT (or 9:46 p.m. French time). However, even though the Moon will briefly hide the entire solar disk, safety remains paramount. Even during the brief total phase of the eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun's light, it is not advisable to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar observation. Looking at any part of the Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a solar filter can cause serious eye injury. During the partial phases of the eclipse (which occur before and after the total phase), it is necessary to observe the phenomenon through approved solar glasses. The eclipse will be broadcast live on NASA's YouTube channel on the day of the event.
While the total eclipse will provide a magnificent spectacle for sky enthusiasts, scientists do not intend to rely solely on aesthetic observation. The eclipse will allow them to conduct various studies on the Sun, the Earth, and their interactions, and NASA has planned several missions for this purpose.
Among its many projects, the American space agency hopes to capture images of the eclipse from the upper atmosphere (at about 15 kilometers altitude) using its WB-57 airborne observatory. The observations, captured in infrared and visible light at high resolution and high speed, could help study a ring of dust around the Sun and search for asteroids that could orbit near our star. The airborne observatory will also be equipped with spectrometers to study the origins of the solar wind.
The SuperDARN radar network, made up of a multitude of radars around the world, will study the effects of solar radiation on the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, including the ionosphere. This atmospheric layer is predominantly governed by solar radiation, and the total eclipse, briefly blocking all sunlight, provides a unique opportunity to study the impacts of these abrupt changes on atmospheric behavior. The ionosphere will also be studied in situ through the launch of three rockets as part of the Atmospheric Perturbations around the Eclipse Path (APEP) mission. Finally, numerous citizen sky observation events are planned during the eclipse and will provide magnificent images to the curious who did not have the opportunity to observe the phenomenon live!
