2014 October 18
Partial Solar Eclipse visible from North America
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Next Thursday, a partial solar eclipse will be visible across North America in the late afternoon. From Canada, the Moon will obscure up to 75% of the Sun’s light, and from the US up to 65% of the Sun’s disk will be covered. Solar eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned in an almost exactly On this occasion, the alignment will not be very exact, and while the The eclipse will only be visible from North America |
The globe above shows the path of the Moon’s shadow across the Earth during the
eclipse. The shaded region within the red contour shows all of the places where
the Moon covers any part of the Sun’s disk. Within this, white contours show
where the Moon covers 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% of the Sun. The central white dot
shows places where the Moon covers more than 98% of the Sun.
Solar eclipses take place when the Earth moves through the Moon’s umbra or penumbra. Partial eclipses are seen from any parts of the Earth’s surface which pass through the Moon’s penumbra; a total eclipse is only seen when the Earth’s surface passes within the Moon’s umbra. Image courtesy of F. Sogumo.
The map below shows a projection of the Moon’s shadow onto a map of the world,
with the same contours marked.
The eclipse will be best seen from the following countries: Canada (Sun 75% covered), United States (Sun 65% covered), Russia (Sun 50% covered) and Mexico (Sun 30% covered).
From the UK, the eclipse will not be visible as the Sun will be below the horizon at the time. For detailed information about other locations, see In-The-Sky.org.
The map below shows contours of the maximum extent of the eclipse across the world.
The charts and text above were taken from In-The-Sky.org.