Solar eclipses are perhaps the most dazzling celestial phenomena that you can see clearly from Earth.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned in the same plane, and the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. During a total solar eclipse, the moon completely covers the sun, resulting in several minutes of "totality," or evening-like darkness in the daytime, as the center of the moon's dark shadow falls over Earth. During a partial solar eclipse, the moon only blocks a portion of the sun's disk, and viewers do not experience totality.
Please note: Totality is the ONLY time when it is safe to look directly at the sun without wearing protective eyewear, such as official solar eclipse glasses.
"During this period when any of the disk is visible, one must use protective equipment to view the sun," William Teets, director of the Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, told Live Science in an email. That could include solar eclipse glasses, specially filtered telescopes or binoculars, or by using a projection method, Teets said.
Eclipses occur over Earth several times a year, with total solar eclipses occuring roughly once every 18 months, according to the Natural History Museum, London. However, most eclipses are not visible from inhabited areas, making viewing opportunities somewhat rare. As such, eclipses entice droves of skywatchers to travel around the world in hopes of catching totality. Continue reading from LiveScience
2024 Total Solar Eclipse (NASA)
31 Things to Do for the Big Eclipse This April (New York Times)
What is a Solar Eclipse? (Space.com)
How to Watch April's Total Solar Eclipse (PBS)
An Eclipse Chaser's Guide to Your First Eclipse (New York Times)
Why Some Say the Eclipse is Best Experienced in a Crowd (New York Times)
