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AUGUST 21, 2017 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: Monday • August 21, 2017
This will be the first total solar eclipse visible in the continental United States in 38 years. SUN
PARTIAL ECLIPSE TOTAL ECLIPSE
EARTH
MOON
UMBRA PENUMBRA
Not to scale: If drawn to scale, the moon would be 30 Earth diameters away from Earth. The sun would be 400 times that distance.
MOON’S ORBIT
EARTH’S ORBIT
Credit: Rick Fienberg, TravelQuest International and Wilderness Travel In this series of stills from 2013, the eclipse sequence runs from right to left. The center image shows totality; on either side are the 2nd contact (right) and 3rd contact (left) diamond rings that mark the beginning and end of totality respectively.
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WHAT YOU CAN SEE DURING A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE CORONA
The outermost layer of the solar atmosphere. The corona is made of a tenuous ionized gas called plasma, with temperatures up to many millions of degrees Fahrenheit. The corona is visible to the naked eye only during a total solar eclipse.
PROMINENCES
Structures in the corona made of relatively cool plasma supported by magnetic fields. Prominences are bright structures when seen over the solar limb, but appear dark when seen against the bright solar disk (where they're called filaments).
POLAR PLUMES
Bright structures of fast-flowing solar material coming from coronal holes, areas with magnetic field lines open to interplanetary space. Coronal holes are more common near, but not exclusive to, the poles.
HELMET STREAMERS
Large, caplike coronal structures with long pointed peaks that usually lie over sunspots and active regions. These often have a prominence or filament at their base.
CORONAL LOOPS
Found around sunspots and in active regions. These structures are associated with the closed magnetic field lines that connect magnetic regions on the solar surface. Credit: S. Habbal, M. Druckmüller and P. Aniol
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
EYE SAFETY DURING AN ECLIPSE It's NEVER safe to look directly at the sun, except when the sun is completely blocked during the period of a total eclipse known as TOTALITY. p p
1
PARTIAL ECLIPSE • GLASSES ON The eclipse begins when the sun’s disk is partially blocked by the moon. This partial eclipse phase can last over an hour.
2
DIAMOND RING • GLASSES ON Shortly before totality, the crescent sun converges into a single brilliant “diamond” of sunlight as the last bit of the sun’s bright disk shines along the edge of the moon, while the first glimpses of the faint corona create a “ring” around the moon.
3
BAILY’S BEADS • GLASSES ON In the last little moment before totality, you may see the “diamond ring” break up into “beads” created as the sun’s light shines through the low-lying valleys along the edge of the moon. These are called Baily’s Beads.
4 5
TOTALITY • GLASSES OFF Once the Baily’s Beads disappear and the moon completely covers the entire disk of the sun, you may safely look at the eclipse without a solar filter. Be careful to protect your eyes again before the end of totality— the total eclipse may last less than a minute in some locations. FINAL STAGES • GLASSES ON A crescent will begin to grow on the opposite side of the sun from where the diamond ring appeared at the beginning. This crescent is the lower atmosphere of the sun, beginning to peek out from behind the moon and it is your signal to stop looking directly at the eclipse. Make sure you have safety glasses back on—or are otherwise watching the eclipse through a safe, indirect method—before the first flash of sunlight appears around the edges of the moon.
Images 1, 2, 4, 5 Credit: Rick Fienberg, TravelQuest International and Wilderness Travel Image 3 Credit: Arne Danielson
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Testing Einstein’s Theory of Gravity Solar eclipses have long been known as fortunate opportunities to study the Sun, but in 1919, a total eclipse of the Sun gave scientists an opportunity to confirm Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativ-ity, a controversial and mind-bending description of space, time, and gravity. In this new theory, Einstein combined the concepts of space and time into an interlocked fabric called “space-time” which fills the universe. Objects with mass had the property of distorting space-time, resulting in the force of gravity. Einstein’s theory was the first to correctly describe the orbit of Mercury, which had confounded as-tronomers for centuries. As Mercury orbits the Sun, the curvature of space caused by the Sun’s gravity would cause the planet’s orbit to shift very slightly, according to the theory. The curvature of space-time could explain the strange aspects of Mercury’s orbit. Einstein’s theory met with both acclaim and skepticism, until 1919 when British astronomer Sir Arthur Ed-
dington observed a total solar eclipse from the island of Príncipe off the west coast of Africa on May 29. The Sun was in the constellation Taurus and as darkness fell, a few stars in the Hyades cluster could be seen near the limb of the Sun. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity predicted that the apparent positions of stars observed near the Sun would be shifted as their light bent through the curved space-time near the massive Sun. Eddington took photographs of the Sun during totality and carefully measured the positions of these stars. He then compared their positions to positions at night six months later, away from the influence of the Sun’s mass. His analysis concluded that the stars did indeed appear to shift positions and by exactly the amount Einstein’s theory predicted. The experiment was repeated during the total solar eclipses of 1922, 1953, and 1972, all with similar results. Einstein’s theory of gravity was confirmed!
Eddington's photo of the 1919 eclipse for testing general relativity. Credit: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. (1920)
Curved spacetime around a massive object accounts for the pull of gravity, and explains how objects orbit each other. NASA's Gravity Probe B mission studied this phenomenon from 2004-2010.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Home Page: eclipse2017.nasa.gov/testing-general-relativity
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
How Eclipses Work Eclipses, whether solar or lunar, occur because of the periodic alignments of the sun, Earth, and moon. These three bodies, orbit in space in very predictable paths (yes, the sun orbits too. It orbits the galaxy once every 200 million years!). Ever since the days of Kepler and Newton, we have been able to predict the motion of planetary bodies with great precision. So, why do eclipses happen? The Moon moves right to left in its orbit around the Earth. The shadow it casts hits the Earth during the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. Solar Eclipses Happen when the moon moves between Earth and the sun. You might think that this should happen every month since the moon’s orbit, depending on how it is defined is between about 27 and 29 days long. But our moon’s orbit is tilted with respect to Earth’s orbit around the sun by about five degrees. Not much, you say? Yes, but the moon, itself, is only about ½ degree in width in the sky, about ½ the width of your pinky finger held at arm’s length. So, sometimes the moon misses too high and sometimes too low to cause a solar eclipse. Only when the sun, moon, and Earth line up close to the “line of nodes”, the imaginary line that represents the intersection of the orbital planes of the moon and Earth, can you have an eclipse. The Moon orbits the Earth in the months prior to the August 21, 2017 total A TOTAL ECLIPSE happens when the moon completely covers the sun. Here, the observer is standing under the umbral shadow of the moon. In a total solar eclipse, the sun’s outer atmosphere can be seen.
solar eclipse. Viewed from above, the Moon's shadow appears to cross the Earth every month, but a side view reveals the five-degree tilt of the Moon's orbit. Its shadow only hits the Earth when the line of nodes, the fulcrum of its orbital tilt, is pointed toward the Sun. This is true for both solar and lunar eclipses. This situation is somewhat unique as no other moon in the solar system orbits roughly in the plane of the “ecliptic”, Earth’s orbital plane, that the planets more or less follow. When the moon does eclipse the sun, it produces two types of shadows on Earth. The umbral shadow is the relatively small in diameter point on Earth where an observer would see a total eclipse. The penumbral shadow is the much larger area on Earth where an observer will see a partial eclipse. Here, the sun is not completely covered by the moon. There are Four Types of Eclipses Depending on your location and on the specific geometry of the sun-Earthmoon system, you may experience one of four types of solar eclipses; total, partial, annular and hybrid.
A PARTIAL ECLIPSE occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun, off center and only a portion of the sun’s disk is obscured. Here, the observer is standing in the penumbral shadow of the moon.
AN ANNULAR ECLIPSE occurs when the moon passes dead center in front of the sun but, because the moon’s orbit is elliptical and so is sometimes closer and sometimes further from Earth, it appears too small to fully cover the disk of the sun. Here, a bright ring called the “ring of fire” appears around the dark disk of the moon. In an annular eclipse, the moon’s umbral shadow comes to focus – to a point – above the Earth’s surface.
The brighter stars and the planets come out. Animals change their behavior. Birds and squirrels nest. Cows return to the barn. Crickets chirp. There is a noticeable drop in both light level and air temperature. It is an eerie feeling. Totality can last for no more than about seven and a half minutes but is usually less than three minutes long.
Partial solar eclipse. Image Credit: Lou Mayo
A HYBRID ECLIPSE is a combination of total and annular eclipses. The eclipse begins as one type and ends as another. This image shows the Aug. 1, 2008, solar eclipse at the point of totality, when the moon completely blocks out the body of the sun, revealing the normally hidden, halo-like corona. Image Credit: The Exploratorium
Image of an annular solar eclipse as seen from the Japanese Hinode Satellite. Image Credit: Hinode/XRT
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
This unique map shows the path of the moon’s umbral shadow – in which the sun will be completely obscured by the moon – during the total solar eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017, as well as the fraction of the sun’s area covered by the moon outside the path of totality. The lunar shadow enters the United States near Lincoln City, Oregon, at 9:05 a.m. PDT. Totality begins in the United States in Lincoln City, Oregon, at 10:16 a.m. PDT. The total eclipse will end in Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:48 p.m. EDT. The lunar shadow leaves the United States at 4:09 p.m. EDT. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout the United States.
EVERYONE IN NORTH AMERICA WILL BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THIS ECLIPSE.
EXPERIENCE
THE
2017 ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA
THROUGH THE EYES OF NASA http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
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TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE ON A
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WHAT IS A SOLAR ECLIPSE?
AUGUST 21, 2017
A solar eclipse happens when the moon casts a shadow on Earth, fully or partially blocking the sun’s light in some areas. Observers within the path of totality will be able to see the sun’s corona (weather permitting), like in the images above and left. Observers outside this path will see a partial eclipse.
Lunar topography data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s SELENE lunar orbiter were used to precisely calculate the location of the moon’s shadow. Land shading is based on a global mosaic of images from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and elevations are based on data from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Planetary positions are from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris 421.
THE NEXT ECLIPSE After the 2017 solar eclipse, the next total solar eclipse visible over the continental United States will be on April 8, 2024.
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
Eclipse History
The earliest writings we have showing that people paid attention to eclipses in any official way are around 5,000 years old.
In 1999, Irish Archeoastronomer Paul Griffin investigated the Loughcrew Cairn L Megalithic Monument in Ireland, and discovered that a set of spiral-shaped petroglyphs that might correspond to a solar eclipse which occurred on November 30, 3340 BCE. The symbols display a consistent coding of the sun, moon and horizon, and of the 92 tracks of total solar eclipses, only the one for Loughcrew Cairn L Megalithic Monument in Ireland 3340 BCE visible at this site displayed the same geometric relationships. Ancient Chinese Records —in particular, the Shu Ching—of the solar eclipse that occurred (most likely) on 22 October 2134 B.C.E. include a passage that translates in English to “the Sun and Moon did not meet harmoniously.”
Sun Earth Day 2009 Banner showing path of total solar eclipse across China. In Ancient China, solar and lunar eclipses were regarded as heavenly signs that foretold the future of the Emperor. The ancient Chinese believed that solar eclipses occur when a celestial dragon devours the sun. They also believed that this dragon attacks the Moon during lunar eclipses. In the Chinese language, the term for eclipse was "shi" which also means "to eat".
One ancient Chinese solar eclipse record describes a solar eclipse as "the sun has been eaten". It was a tradition in ancient China to bang drums and pots and make loud noise during eclipses to frighten the dragon away. The Chinese Imperial Emperor Chung K’ang (B.C.E. 2159 – 2146) learned of an eclipse when he heard much noise in the streets as his subjects tried to drive away the dragon that was eating the sun. They were successful, but the Emperor’s two court astronomers, Hsi and Ho, were reportedly beheaded for failing to predict the event.
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Babylonian Clay Tablets such as the one below, provide physical records of ancient eclipses viewed by humans, in this instance between 518 and 465 BCE. Babylonian astrologers kept careful records of celestial events including the motions of Mercury, Venus, the sun, and the moon on tablets dating from 1700 to 1681 BCE. Later records identified a total solar eclipse on Babylonian Solar Eclipse Tablet listing eclipses between 518 and July 31, 1063 BCE, 465 BC). Image Credit: NASA Sun Earth Day that "turned day into night," and the famous eclipse of June 15, 763 BCE, recorded by Assyrian observers in Nineveh. By carefully noting local lunar and solar eclipses, Babylonian astronomers were able to predict lunar eclipses and later, solar eclipses, with a fair accuracy. Their tool was the so-called Saros-cycle: this is the period of 223 synodic months (or 18 years and 11.3 days) after which lunar and solar eclipses repeat themselves. Ref: http:// sunearthday.nasa.gov/2006/locations/babylon.php (link is external) There are many stories of how eclipses have been used to foretell important political events, and for nearly all human civilizations with a recorded history, total solar eclipses were regarded with fear and dread prior to the advent of mathematical schemes for predicting when they would occur. The Ancient Greeks also recorded eclipse events. The poet Archilochus spoke of the total solar eclipse of 6 April 647 B.C.E. in mythic terms: “There is nothing beyond hope, nothing that can be sworn impossible, nothing wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians, made night from mid-day, hiding the light of the shining Sun, and sore fear came upon men.” Around 460 BCE, the Greek historian, Herodotus wrote that Thales was able to predict the year when a total solar eclipse would occur. Details of how this prediction was made did not survive. The eclipse occurred Eclipse Map for 647 BCE Total Solar Eclipse. Image Credit in either 610 BCE or 585 NASA and Fred Espenak. BCE. Apparently the method used worked only once because what is known of Greek scientific history does not suggest that the method was ever reliably used again. Thales is said to have
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visited Egypt, and from the empirical rules in use there for land surveying, brought back to Greece the ideas of deductive geometry later codified by Euclid. Before 450 BCE, Meton realized that a single period of 235 lunar months (19 years) would cause the popular lunar calendar to return to synchrony with the solar, seasonal calendar. At this time, the same lunar phase would be recorded at the same time of the solar calendar year. This period also gives a rough guide to VI, Chapter 7, of a late-1400s copy of George Trebizond's when a lunar eclipse will re- Latin translation (ca. 1451) of the Almagest. Image Credcur at the same geographic it: NASA Sun Earth Day location. The famous Greek astronomer, Ptolemy (ca 150 CE) recorded his observations of eclipses in the Almagest and showed he had a sophisticated scheme for predicting both lunar and solar eclipses. Ptolemy knew, for example, the details of the orbit of the Moon including its nodal points. He also knew that the sun must be within 20 degrees 41' of the node point for an eclipse to occur. From this information, Ptolemy figured that up to two solar eclipses could occur within seven months in the same part of the world. Lunar eclipses were especially easy to calculate because of the vast area covered
Wednesday, August 16, 2017 • 11C
by Earth's shadow on the Moon. Solar eclipses however required much greater knowledge. So by the Second Century CE, total solar eclipses could be predicted with some reasonable accuracy. For a growing segment of the human population they were no longer messages from hostile gods or supernatural forces, but simply an interesting regularity of the orbits of the Moon and Earth about the Sun.
More Recent Accounts come to us, as well, through numerous writings about eclipses through the ages. The British poet John Milton writes in Paradise Lost; "As when the Sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal misty air, Shorn of his beams, or from behind the Moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs." Solar eclipses were by all accounts events of wondrous and magical proportions. Today, of course, we understand eclipses very well. We know how and why they happen, and when and where they happen. We have seen eclipses from space. We have even used eclipses to probe the laws of physics and to discover new worlds outside the Solar System. Still, eclipses of the sun hold their ancient magic and are fascinating to watch. Many Scientific Discoveries have been made during solar eclipses. The moon’s unique ability to cover the sun’s disk has allowed investigations of the corona and chromosphere as well as verification of the theory of General Relativity. The following table lists some of these important scientific discoveries. A more complete listing of important solar eclipses in history can be found at https://eclipse.gsfc. nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html (link is external)
12C • Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Date
Type
Description
0334 July 17 Annular
Firmicus is first to report solar prominces, seen
0418 July 19 Total
First report of a comet seen during a solar eclipse
0968 Dec 22 Total
First report of a desciption of the corona
1605 Oct 12
Total
Johannes Kepler suggest that the corona is light reflected from material surrounding the Sun
1724 May 22 Total
Jose Joaquin de Ferrer names the "Corona" and proposes that is is a part of the Sun and not the
1733 May 13 Total
Birger Wassenius is the first to report prominences visible to the unaided eye; he attributes them ot
1836 May 15 Annular
Francis Baily Notes the Briet bright beads of light that appear close to totality as the last rays of sunlight stream through lunar valleys along the
1842 July 8
Total
Francis Baily identifies Corona and Prominences as
1860 July 18 Total
First Wet Plate Eclipse Photograph
1868
Pierre-Jules-Cesar Janssen observed a new spectral line in the sun's spectrum; named "Helium" after the Greek god of the Sun, Helios
1869 Aug 7
Total
Total
1871 Dec 12 Total
1919 May 29 Total
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New element ("coronium") discovered in Sun's Corona? Actually, it was confirmed as ionized iron in 1941 Jules Janssen uses spectroscopy to propose that the corona consists of both hot gases and cooler particles and hence is part of the Sun Sir Arthur Eddington verifies Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, by observing the bending of starlight passing near the sun's lilmb
10 things to know about the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse Something rare and awesome is about to happen in the U.S. On Aug. 21 there will be a total solar eclipse, and if you live in the path of totality, you will have the opportunity to have your day turned to night as the moon will totally block out the sun. Here are 10 things you should know about the eclipse.
1.
The total solar eclipse will take place at around 1 p.m. EDT in South Carolina, 11:46 a.m. CDT in Missouri and 10:15 a.m. PDT in Idaho.
2.
Along the “path of totality” — where the eclipse will be seen the best — the total solar eclipse will last for about 2 1/2 minutes.
3.
The path of totality will darken the skies from South Carolina to Oregon.
4.
The total solar eclipse will cast a 70-mile wide shadow.
5.
Those outside the path of totality will witness a partial solar eclipse — rest assured, it will still be cool.
6.
The last total solar eclipse viewed from the contiguous U.S. was Feb. 26, 1979.
7.
The total solar eclipse of June 8, 1918, crossed a similar path, traveling from Florida to Washington. Albert Einstein with Sir Arthur Eddington. Image Credit: Smithsonian.com
8.
Total solar eclipses occur approximately once every 18 months, but it depends where on Earth you are if you have a chance to see them.
9.
The next annular solar eclipse that can be seen in the U.S. will be Oct. 14, 2023, and will be visible from Florida to Northern California.
1O.
The next total solar eclipse will be visible from Maine to Texas on April 8, 2024.
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THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR | 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE
MAKE YOUR OWN ECLIPSE PROJECTOR You can make this simple eclipse projector with almost any cardboard box, paper, tape and foil. The longer the distance from the pinhole to screen, the larger the image of the sun will be. NEVER look directly at the sun without appropriate eyewear. Opening in box for viewing
White paper screen taped to inside end of the box
Small image of partially eclipsed sun
Sunlight Aluminum foil with pinhole
MIRROR IN AN ENVELOPE
Slide a mirror into an envelope with a ragged hole about 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) cut into the front. Point the mirror toward the sun so that an image is reflected onto a screen about 15 feet (5 meters) away. The longer the distance, the larger the image.
DO NOT LOOK AT THE MIRROR, ONLY AT THE SCREEN.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017 • 13C
ECLIPSE MISCONCEPTIONS Humans have watched eclipses since before the dawn of written history, and during this long span of time our scientific understanding of the physical world has grown enormously. As a consequence, many of the older ideas we had about the causes and effects of total solar eclipses have been replaced by detailed physical explanations. Nevertheless, some older ideas seem remarkably resistant to replacement by the more scientifically-correct explanations. Here are a few of the most popular ones!
Total solar eclipses produce harmful rays that can cause blindness. During a total solar eclipse when the disk of the moon fully covers the sun, the brilliant corona emits only electromagnetic radiation, though sometimes with a greenish hue. Scientists have studied this radiation for centuries. Being a million times fainter than the light from the sun itself, there is nothing in the coronal light that could cross 150 million kilometers of space ,penetrate our dense atmosphere, and cause blindness. However, if you watched the sun before totality, you will catch a glimpse of the brilliant solar surface and this can cause retinal damage, though the typical human instinctual response is to quickly look away before any severe damage has actually occurred.
Eclipses are harbingers of something very bad about to happen. A classic case of what psychologists call Confirmation Bias is that we tend to remember all the occasions when two things happened together, but forget all of the other times when they did not. This gives us a biased view of causes and effects that we remember easily, because the human brain is predisposed to looking for, and remembering, patterns that can be used as survival rules-ofthumb. Total solar eclipses are not often recorded in the historical record, but they do tend to be recorded when they coincide with other historical events. For example in 763 B.C., early Assyrian records mention an eclipse in the same passage as an insurrection in the city of Ashur, now known as Qal'at Sherqat in Iraq, suggesting that the ancient people linked the two in their minds. Or when King Henry I of England, the son of William the Conqueror, died in A.D. 1133, the event coincided with a total solar eclipse. With a little work you can also find numerous cases when something good happened!
There are no total solar eclipses at Earth’s North or South Poles. In fact, there is nothing especially unique about these locations from an astronomical standpoint. The last total solar eclipse viewed from the North Pole area was on March 20, 2015 and passed right over the North Pole itself at which time it came to an end exactly at the Spring Equinox! The last total solar eclipse viewed from the South Pole area was on November 23, 2003.
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CITIZEN SCIENCE
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Get Involved with Real Research! The 2017 solar eclipse presents many opportunities for students, amateur astronomers and lifelong learners to get involved with science research. In addition to science projects focusing on the 2017 eclipse, members of the public can assist NASA in learning about the Sun, Earth, Moon and even eclipses in exoplanetary systems. There are programs at every level from the most basic observations to publishable research opportunities in partnership with NASA and university scientists. Join us and experience the excitement of learning and making real discoveries! To learn more about citizen science projects at NASA, go to: science. nasa.gov/citizenscientists
Explore These Opportunities: Citizen CATE (National Solar Observatory) The Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment will use more than 60 identical telescopes equipped with digital cameras positioned from Oregon to South Carolina to image the solar corona. The project will then splice these images together to show the corona during a 90-minute
period, revealing for the first time the plasma dynamics of the inner solar corona. eclipse2017.nso.edu/citizen-cate Explore These Opportunities: Citizen Science Opportunities, Continued
GLOBE Observer (NASA, NOAA, NSF & U.S. Department of State) – What happens in the atmosphere and on Earth’s surface when the Sun’s light is blocked, even temporarily? By collecting data during the eclipse, you can help us explore how the eclipse changes atmospheric conditions. You will also be contributing to a database used by students and scientists to study the effects of the eclipse on the atmosphere. Even if you are not on the path of totality, you can provide useful comparison data. General citizen scientists can observe clouds and air temperature with GLOBE Observer, while those interested in pursuing additional online training (especially formal and informal educators) are encouraged to check out other data collection and research ideas from the full GLOBE Program. www.globe.gov/web/eclipse/overview
Contents and photos for this special publication are provided by NASA To learn more about the 2017 Eclipse go to www.nasa.gov
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