Solar Eclipse Today: Today, skywatchers are all set to witness one of the biggest celestial phenomena of 2024 - the total Solar Eclipse. This rare celestial event occurs when the Moon is closer to Earth and passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on Earth's surface. The track of the moon's shadow is called the path of totality, which for Monday's eclipse will be about 115 miles wide and sweep across 15 states in the US. To see it, viewers have to be somewhere within a narrow path of totality.
During the celestial event, skywatchers can also see multiple unique features as the eclipse progresses. As per NASA, the eclipse is set to pass through 5 different stages. NASA has also released an interactive map of the total eclipse, which space enthusiasts can use to track the totality as it drifts across the globe.
5 Stages Of Total Solar Eclipse
1. Partial eclipse: In the initial stage of the eclipse, the moon will begin to pass in front of the sun, kick-starting a partial solar eclipse. It looks like the Moon has taken a bite out of the Sun. This stage of the partial eclipse will first be seen near Pu‘uali‘i, Hawaii, at 6:27 a.m. local time (12:27 p.m. EDT, 1627 GMT).
2. Shadow bands: Shadow bands are rapidly moving, long, dark bands separated by white spaces that can be seen on the sides of buildings or the ground just before and after totality, though they can be very faint and difficult to photograph.
3. Baily's Beads: As the Moon continues to move across the Sun, several points of light shine around the Moon's edges. Known as Baily's Beads, these are light rays from the Sun streaming through the valleys along the Moon's horizon
4. Diamond Ring: Baily's Beads will begin to disappear until eventually, only a single bright spot will remain along the edge of the Moon's shadow. This bright spot resembles the diamond in a giant diamond ring formed by the rest of the Sun's atmosphere.
5. Totality: Totality is when the Moon completely blocks the bright face of the Sun. This is the only stage of the eclipse that you can view with your naked eye. This stage can also reveal the chromosphere (a region of the solar atmosphere, appearing as the thin circle of pink around the Moon) and the corona (the outer solar atmosphere, appearing as streams of white light).
Total Solar Eclipse Timing:
The solar eclipse is scheduled to start at 9:12 pm IST on April 8, reach totality at 10:08 pm and conclude at 2:22 am on April 9, 2024. Totality is expected to strike the Pacific coast of Mexico first, at approximately 11:07 am PDT, and exit Maine at approximately 1:30 pm PDT.
