Total solar eclipse to sweep across Mexico, the US and Canada
Hello and welcome fellow eclipse watchers to the Guardian’s coverage of Monday’s total solar eclipse, which will traverse across the Pacific Ocean, through Mexico, the US and Canada, and end over the Atlantic Ocean.
The total solar eclipse will be visible along a “path of totality” that will measure about 115 miles (185km) wide and extend across the continent.
The first spot in North America that will experience totality is on Mexico’s Pacific coast at about 11:07am PT. The eclipse will sweep across 15 states in the US in a north-east direction, from Texas to Maine, for roughly an hour, beginning at 1.30pm CT and ending at about 3.35pm ET. An estimated 31.6 million people live in the path of totality.
Along that path, the moon will fully obscure the sun, and block its face completely, causing the bright sky to darken to twilight in just seconds. Weather permitting, people in the path will see the sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere, which is otherwise usually obscured by the bright face of the sun.
North America won’t see another coast-to-coast total solar eclipse for 21 years, prompting millions of people across the country to travel to witness the celestial event.
Key events
Richard Luscombe
A total solar eclipse is a “mystical, magical experience”, the deputy head of Nasa has said, adding that this one offers the space agency the chance to learn much more about the sun, Earth and moon.
Pam Melroy, a veteran astronaut who holds degrees in astronomy and planetary sciences, was just on CNN explaining how Nasa will be tracking today’s eclipse across Mexico, the US and Canada, and harnessing an army of citizen scientists to do so.
It gives us the opportunity not just to leverage all the great scientific capabilities that we have in the US, using all kinds of equipment, aircraft, kites, balloons, sounding rockets, all flying up into the atmosphere to observe.
But in addition we have trained regular citizens, not professional scientists, to use solar telescopes. And we have an app on your phone. We’re going to have hundreds of thousands of people taking pictures, and by pulling all that data together, we think we’re going to understand the shape of the sun down to within a few kilometers.
Melroy, one of only two women to command a space shuttle mission, said there was “something very mysterious” about a total solar eclipse.
When literally day turns to night, animals start to behave differently, we’re seeing changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s a mystical, mysterious experience. And I love the thought that millions of Americans will stand together today, looking up into the sky wearing their glasses. It is amazing.
Alaina Demopoulos
From eclipse donuts to deep-state lunacy, the weeks-long social media buildup to a solar eclipse is birthing memes, marketing gimmicks and more than a few conspiracy theories.
As many prepare for the celestial event in person, content creators have also scrambled to commemorate the big day. Zach Sweat, managing editor of the internet social history website Know Your Meme, said:
Most of the memes are jokes about people staring at the sun and going blind from not using proper protection, as well as jokes about places like Canada being almost entirely exempt from the path of the event.
Michael Zeiler, an eclipse cartographer and the man behind GreatAmericanEclipse.com, has provided a handy Emoji Map that depicts the path of totality – where you can see the total eclipse – through a series of emojis. A smiley face hovering over a city means that it will get the best view. Sleepy and angry faces, not so much.
Hotel rates in states in the path of the solar eclipse surged to astronomical prices, with some eclipse watchers traveling from across the country to find their reservations canceled and sold for several times the original price.
In Buffalo, New York, where as many as a million visitors are expected to flock for a prime viewing spot during the eclipse, hotel and flight bookings were up four times from a similar time period last year.
Amid the clamor for accommodation, one travel agency said it had been forced to rearrange lodging for more than 150 people after bookings made two years earlier at two Buffalo hotels were canceled. Rooms that had cost $129 to $159 were canceled and resold at $450 or more, according to Sugar Tours owner Chris Donnelly, who said it was “total price gouging”. “Of course this was all about the profits,” Donnelly said.
The region’s tourism bureau, Visit Buffalo Niagara (VBN), said it worked with the individuals who had received cancellation notices and that it “does not condone this business practice of canceling room bookings”.
“We find it shameful that longtime customers and new visitors are being treated this way,” Patrick Kaler, president and CEO of VBN, said.
Putting greed before the visitor’s experience and the destination’s reputation is unacceptable.
How do I watch the eclipse safely?
Staring directly at the sun during a solar eclipse (or at any other time) can lead to permanent eye damage.
Don’t do what Donald Trump did in 2017.
To look at the eclipse directly, you must have special eclipse glasses. Regular sunglasses, frosted or darkened glass, or any other method lacking the necessary eye protection, just won’t cut it.
Nasa’s must-read eclipse safety guide on the subject says:
Viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.
Many stores, businesses, schools and libraries are still offering glasses free or at low cost, but you need to make sure they are safety rated. The American Astronomical Society warned last month that unsafe fakes and counterfeits were circulating, and has published a handy list of suppliers of safe solar viewers and filters (certified ISO 12312-2 compliant).
If you don’t have eclipse glasses, you can make a box pinhole projector following the steps in this video, courtesy of Nasa’s Goddard space flight center.
An even simpler method is using anything with a small hole, such as a kitchen colander, to project an image on to the ground. And remember that many places across the entire country, such as science centers and zoos, will be hosting special eclipse events so you can watch the action safely.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging drivers to keep their eyes on the road, not the sky, as the eclipse nears.
Drivers should avoid pulling over in unsafe locations such as the shoulders of highways and interstates, and instead pull over in a safe area like a parking lot, the agency warns.
It comes after analysis published earlier this month that showed there was a significant increase in fatal car crashes in the US around the time of the 2017 total solar eclipse.
How can I watch it?
If you live anywhere in the path of totality, or can travel to it, congratulations, you have a front-row seat.
Just remember: you need eclipse glasses (more on that in a minute) to look up at all times other than the few minutes of full eclipse.
But everyone in North America outside the path should be able to see at least a partial eclipse of varying percentages, and Nasa will be livestreaming the entire event here.
And here is Nasa’s Eclipse Explorer, where you can enter any US address or zip code to find out what will be visible from that location.
You can find Nasa’s guide to the stages of a total solar eclipse here.
Richard Luscombe
Millions of people were gathering across 15 states, and in Mexico and Canada, on Monday in anticipation of this afternoon’s total solar eclipse that is expected to deliver a dazzling celestial show.
Undeterred by gloomy forecasts of low cloud cover and rain spoiling their view, hordes assembled in the US from Texas to Maine, clutching safety glasses and cameras with solar filters, in readiness for the rare spectacle.
Travelers were up early on Monday to stake a good spot for watching the eclipse beneath the 115-mile wide path of totality. In Maine, where clear skies are expected to offer some of the best views, authorities reported heavy traffic long before daylight.
Forecasters had gloomier news for many other parts of the country, although predicted conditions have been generally been trending better in recent days. Clouds are still expected across much of the eclipse route, with severe weather including thunderstorms and hail for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana later in the day.
“Northern New England remains to be the region where cloud cover will likely be minimized along the path of totality this afternoon,” the National Weather Service said in a Monday morning bulletin.
Other locations will have a fair chance of cloud covers at various levels, although locations across Arkansas to the Midwest could see breaks in the clouds or high thin clouds during the time of totality.
What is a total solar eclipse and why is this one special?
Total solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun’s face completely, and causing the bright sky to darken to twilight in just seconds. The track of the moon’s shadow is called the path of totality.
The most recent total solar eclipse in the US was in 2017, but an interval of only seven years is unusual. The previous one before that took place in 1979, and the next one visible in the contiguous US will not be until August 2044. Only 16 other total solar eclipses have occurred over at least a part of the lower 48 states in the last 155 years.
An estimated 31.6 million people, almost three times as many as in 2017, live in the path of totality – which is longer, and also wider, than almost every other total eclipse before it, because the moon is closer to Earth and casts a broader shadow.
The time of totality in any given location is also longer. Seven years ago, the longest duration anywhere was two minutes and 42 seconds. On Monday, it will be four minutes and 28 seconds in Torreón, Mexico, while almost every place along the path can expect between three and a half to four minutes of totality.
Total solar eclipse to sweep across Mexico, the US and Canada
Hello and welcome fellow eclipse watchers to the Guardian’s coverage of Monday’s total solar eclipse, which will traverse across the Pacific Ocean, through Mexico, the US and Canada, and end over the Atlantic Ocean.
The total solar eclipse will be visible along a “path of totality” that will measure about 115 miles (185km) wide and extend across the continent.
The first spot in North America that will experience totality is on Mexico’s Pacific coast at about 11:07am PT. The eclipse will sweep across 15 states in the US in a north-east direction, from Texas to Maine, for roughly an hour, beginning at 1.30pm CT and ending at about 3.35pm ET. An estimated 31.6 million people live in the path of totality.
Along that path, the moon will fully obscure the sun, and block its face completely, causing the bright sky to darken to twilight in just seconds. Weather permitting, people in the path will see the sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere, which is otherwise usually obscured by the bright face of the sun.
North America won’t see another coast-to-coast total solar eclipse for 21 years, prompting millions of people across the country to travel to witness the celestial event.
