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What makes today’s solar eclipse so unique?
According to Nasa, this event will be different from past total solar eclipses.
Scientists say the Sun’s corona (its outermost layer) will be more visible than the last total solar eclipse (in 2017) due to the Sun’s heightened activity at the time of the event.
The 2024 eclipse will also be visible for nearly two minutes longer than 2017’s.
The path of totality is longer, too, meaning the eclipse will be visible to more people than the most recent total solar eclipse. About 31.6 million people live in the 200 mile (322km) path of totality – more than doubling the number of people who will be able to see the event since the last of its kind.
Even people who live elsewhere will be able to see the eclipse in some form. “99% of people who reside in the United States will be able to see the partial or total eclipse from where they live,” Nasa states on its website.
British scientists travel to US to experience eclipse
British scientists in Dallas have teamed up with Nasa to use a polarimeter to examine the directional quality of the corona’s light and a spectrometer to look for the behaviour of excited iron atoms.
“During an eclipse, nature gives us a unique opportunity to measure this region with relative ease, and to see the connections between the Sun and solar wind,” explained Dr Huw Morgan from Aberystwyth University.
Separately, Ellie MacDonald – a science educator at Kielder Observatory near the Scottish border – has travelled to Texas to live stream the event.
MacDonald, 26, has never seen an eclipse before, and says she’s thrilled to be able to share her footage with followers.
She tells BBC News: “Everyone says how amazing it was in 1999 and a lot of people remember going to see it in Cornwall. Hopefully the livestream will be the next best thing.”
Why doesn’t an eclipse happen every month?
If an eclipse is all about the Earth, Moon and Sun lining up, then you might think that because the Moon orbits the Earth once a month, the three would line up with that same frequency.
But the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is on a slightly different plane with respect to the Sun and the Earth – it’s tilted by about 5 degrees.
So, it’s only once every 18 months that the three bodies line up perfectly to create a total solar eclipse.
Europe will be feeling left out
The Moon’s deep shadow lifts off the surface of the Earth way out in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000km (620 miles) before reaching the continent of Europe.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a total non-event. In regions like Normandy in France and in western parts of the UK, it should still be possible to witness the tail end of a partial eclipse just before sunset.
For Brits – essentially, if you draw a line from about Fowey in Cornwall to Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, then everything west of that line might just get a view of the Moon biting the edge of the Sun as it disappears over the horizon.
You’ll need to be on high ground and have clear sky. Tricky, I know, but sometimes the gods do favour us.
