Greetings Earthlings!
38 years back in time was the last total solar eclipse visible from the North-American continent.
2 days from now the next solar eclipse will be crossing the US from west coast to east coast where the moon will hide the sun for 1 minute 44 seconds up to 2 minutes 40 seconds, then crossing the Atlantic Ocean and finally be visible as a partial eclipse in Ireland, Northern UK, Portugal Spain and part of France during sunset hours.
How it works
-) First of all, wildlife will be confused by the lighting conditions, birds may start singing agitate.
-)Furthermore you will be able to see the atmosphere of the sun, the Corona, with your naked eye.
-)As if that weren´t enough stars and 4 planets will be visible too. Mercury will be 10 degrees left, and Jupiter 51 degrees left. Mars will be 8 degrees right, and Venus 34 degrees right. Make sure to keep your eyes open for those bright dots.
How it will look from Earth
Because totality is rather short it will be very useful to have your protection glasses at hand in order to observe the partial phase before and after totality. Even if you don´t have those glasses by hand, just make sure you are near a tree wearing leaves, because during the partial phase you can see crescent shaped shadows being casted through the trees leaves.
Below is the path of the moons shadow crossing the US from west to east. You can see the detailed map by clicking here.
How it will look from Space
The guys on the International Space Station will also have a good view of the eclipse. The animation from above was made during the eclipse in 2013. You can clearly see the Umbra moving above Earth´s surface. Now it should be more clear why it gets totally dark if you happen to be in the totality zone, and how small that zone is compared to Earth´s size.
The Eclipse viewed from Europe
Living in Europe you can see the partial phase of the eclipse during evening hours or sunset in the northwestern regions of Europe. The partial coverage reaches 28% on azores islands, 33% on Madeira. On the Atlantic coast of France you can see around 10% of the sun being covered by the moon during sunset. Please be aware that you´ll need best weather conditions without horizon near clouds in order to being able to observe the partial eclipse in those regions. Eventually you will only get a glimpse of the eclipse, but even a glimpse of this event will eventually raise your awareness of the cosmic clockwork and the cycles we are part of.
