Solar Eclipse
by Robert Bales
Title
Solar Eclipse
Artist
Robert Bales
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
A composite view of the total eclipse from the path crossing Idaho.
On Aug. 21, 2017, skies darkened from Oregon to South Carolina in the first total solar eclipse visible from coast to coast across the United States in 99 years
A total solar eclipse occurs when the disk of the moon appears to completely cover the disk of the sun in the sky. The fact that total solar eclipses occur at all is a quirk of cosmic geometry. The moon orbits an average of 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth — just the right distance to seem the same size in the sky as the much-larger sun. However, these heavenly bodies line up only about once every 18 months.
Outside the path of totality, skywatchers in the continental U.S. and other nearby areas will see a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon appears to take a bite out of the sun's disk. Two to five solar eclipses occur each year on average, but total solar eclipses happen just once every 18 months or so.
From Space.co.
Uploaded
August 29th, 2017
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Viewed 828 Times - Last Visitor from Ottawa, ON - Canada on 03/22/2024 at 9:57 PM
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