This Monday, April 8th, will see a solar eclipse over North America. Here at UMD, we’ll only witness a partial eclipse, but still a very cool astronomical phenomenon.
PLEASE DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN DURING THE ECLIPSE. WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY FOR THIS.
(Don’t look directly at the sun at other times, either!)
UMD will be hosting an eclipse-observing event in front of Glenn L Martin Hall on Monday afternoon; read more about it here: https://science.umd.edu/events/eclipse-2024.html
A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth, Sun, and Moon align so that the moon is partially or wholly blocking the sun from a given viewpoint; this is only possible because our Moon is proportionally unusually large compared to the moons of many other planets, and so it can from certain angles wholly block the view of the sun. A solar eclipse occurs only during the new moon, when the Moon’s surface facing us is dark (as seen in demonstration E2-21).
To read more about this eclipse, and eclipses in general:
National Air & Space Museum: https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/eclipse
American Astronomical Society: https://eclipse.aas.org/
Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/report/the-great-american-total-solar-eclipse-of-2024/
EarthSky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7RqSci8U4Y
Astronomy Magazine: https://www.astronomy.com/observing/2024-solar-eclipse/
Sky&Telescope Magazine: https://skyandtelescope.org/tag/2024-total-solar-eclipse/
The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/04/04/solar-eclipse-totality-maps-path-explained/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/03/29/cloud-cover-eclipse-forecast-maps-cities/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/24/how-to-take-pictures-eclipse-phone/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/03/23/solar-eclpse-2024-better-2017/
See you out there!