Category Archives: eclipse

March 7 1970 Eclipse

Crowds descending on Virginia to view 1970 eclipse. NASA photo.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the total solar eclipse of Saturday, March 7, 1970. As I previously recounted, this was the first eclipse I witnessed. That eclipse began in the Pacific and had a path of totality that crossed southern Mexico before entering the Gulf of Mexico.

Then, the shadow hit the United States , first in Florida, then Georgia, then the Carolinas and Virginia, then grazing Maryland before heading back out to sea, saying goodbye to the United States at Nantucket.

For those with Learjets, it then crossed Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the French island of Miquelon, before heading out to sea again into the North Atlantic.

Wikipedia image.

Where I was in Minnesota, it only covered 47% of the sun at high noon. If nobody had told me about it, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. It didn’t get dark outside, and no animals were confused by sudden darkness. But that day, it was the biggest deal in the world. The moon contained fresh footprints of Americans who had walked on its surface less than a year earlier. Now that same moon was casting its shadow over me.

To me and my fellow third graders, it was presented as a big deal. And it was a big deal. If there had ever been any doubt about it, yes, the moon went around the earth, the earth went around the sun, and sometimes they got in the way of each other. Any third grader could see tangible proof.

In school, we had learned all about umbras and penumbras, and by the time the big day came, I was an expert on all things eclipse. With a shoebox, some foil, and a note card, I constructed myself a pinhole viewer. I figured that if a pinhole was good, then a giant hole would be even better. Fortunately, my mom corrected my error and got the viewer in good working order.

I pointed the box at the sun coming in the window, and sure enough, there was a little crescent shape of sunlight coming in through the round hole, plainly visible on the note card.

Perhaps I was a little disappointed at the tiny size of the image, but it didn’t matter. Right there in my shoebox was proof positive that the moon orbits the earth. I didn’t have to take anyone else’s word for it. The proof was right before my eyes.

The home movie here shows some of my contemporaries in North Carolina who had the fortune of being in the path of totality:

Wikipedia image.

From our location, we had to turn on the TV to see the full effect, and we witnessed the darkened skies and the amazed reactions of those who went outside to see it. I don’t remember too many details about the TV coverage. Mostly, I remember some poor confused rooster in Georgia crowing in the middle of the day.

I believe it was the CBS coverage that I watched on TV fifty years ago today, and that broadcast is available on YouTube. (You can hear the rooster at 22:23.)

Examining the confused rooster. CBS-TV via YouTube.

Here is another reminiscence of another kid who was older than I was and who lived closer to the path of totality. As he recounts, he was able to talk his dad into driving him the 200 miles to totality where he was able to set up his telescope and take some photos.

When my friends and I got back to school the next Monday, the eclipse was the topic of conversation. We knew how the universe worked, because we had seen it with our own eyes. It was a big deal, and the kids remembered it.

In 1970, we were over a thousand miles away from the path of totality, and going to see it wasn’t really an option. But I envied those people and roosters on TV who got to see it in person.

The next total solar eclipse in North America will take place on Monday, April 8, 2024, just over four years from now. The path of totality will be a narrow strip passing through Mexico and Canada, and the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path of totality includes a number of large cities, including, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester. That path through Canada will include Windsor, ON, and Montreal.

My family went to see the 2017 eclipse, and the 2024 eclipse will be within a days’ drive of most of the population of the United States. It’s an unforgettable experience, and you should plan on seeing it, just over four years from now. It will be a school day, and if 2017 is any guide, most schools will fail to do anything meaningful. I rarely encourage truancy, but kids should skip school that day, and instead travel to the zone of totality. When I’m substitute teaching, I tell kids to ask their science teacher on the first day of the 2023-24 school year if there will be a field trip to see the eclipse. If the teacher balks, then I tell them they should plan on skipping school. From where I live in Minnesota, it’s a day’s drive to Illinois or Indiana to view it. Kids who are currently sixth grade and older will probably have their driver’s licenses by then. And all of the kids probably have parents who can take them.

You should also pencil in the 2024 eclipse on your calendar. Keep following OneTubeRadio.com, and we’ll certainly remind you. My experience from 2016 is that if you make your travel plans about one year in advance, there will be plenty of inexpensive accommodations available. If you are a student or parent, then you should plan on bugging the science teacher in September 2023 about organizing a trip. Just as I tell the kids here, if he or she doesn’t seem enthused, then you should take matters into your own hands.

When I’m teaching a class, there are often one or two kids in the class whose parents took them to see the 2017 eclipse. I ask them if it was the coolest thing they had ever seen, and they invariably say that it was. If you had asked me fifty years ago, I would have said that it was pretty cool, even though I was stuck mostly watching it on TV. It took 47 years to actually go see a total eclipse in person, and I can vouch for the fact that it was indeed the coolest thing ever.

Transit of Mercury, November 11, 2019

NOAA image.

Monday morning in North America, there will be visible a transit of Mercury. The innermost planet will pass directly between the sun and Earth, and will be visible as a small black dot.

The event will begin at 7:35 AM Eastern Time, 6:35 Central Time. Mercury will be at the centermost part of the sun at 10:20 Eastern, 9:20 Central. The event ends at 1:04 PM Eastern, 12:04 PM Central. Local sunrise in Minneapolis is at 7:05 AM, and I”m hopeful that it will be visible in the rising sun. I’m told that Mercury is too small to be visible with the naked eye, but I’m hoping that the sun’s low position on the horizon will make the small speck visible.

Even though the sun will be low on the horizon, you will need eye protection. So dig out those eclipse glasses that you acquired for the 2017 eclipse. If you are unable to view it, it will be live streamed from the University of Minnesota:

Solar Eclipse of August 7, 1869

Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, Aug 4, 1869.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the total solar eclipse of August 7, 1869. The path of totality started in Asiatic Russia, and covered a tiny swath of China and much of Siberia before crossing the Bering Strait into Alaska and Yukon, and then through parts of the present day provinces and states of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Carolinas.

The eclipse wasn’t the first to be photographed. Those honors go to the eclipse of July 28, 1851, which, according to Wikipedia, produced the first scientifically usable photograph. It does have the distinction of being the first to provide detailed spectroscopic images of the corona, which revealed an element believe for many years to be “coronium“. It took 70 years to realize that the spectrographic line was not a new element, but instead iron at over a million degrees Kelvin. The image shown above left was prepared by Prof. Charles Augustus Young of Dartmouth College, who was part of a team at Burlington, Iowa. The same team produced the photo shown below:

Another team left Burlington for Ottumwa, Iowa, but was beset by problems. They had forgotten their chronometer in Burlington, and the telescope clockwork was damaged in transit. Notwithstanding these difficulties, they managed 34 photographs, including four of totality, one of which is shown at left.

Another team was headed by Prof. William Harkness of the U.S. Naval Observatory. This team constructed a temporary observatory at the northwest corner of Second and Short Streets in Des Moines. Harkness reported that this vacant property on the west bank of the Des Moines River had a horizon almost devoid of obstructions. “Short Street” no longer exists, but according to the 1869 Des Moines city directory, it ran from the Des Moines River to Third Street (only a little more than a block, hence the name). From the description of the observatory being on the west bank, it would appear that the building was near the current site of Wells Fargo Arena.

A local contractor, one F.T. Nelson was retained to build the structure, shown at right. This team also obtained multiple photographs and spectrograms. The sketch below is the eclipse as seen through their four inch telescope.

Carptenter F.T. Nelson’s listing in the 1869 city directory.

The August 13, 1869, issue of the Cedar Falls (IA) Gazette carried this account of the eclipse. Those of us who witnessed the 2017 eclipse concur in the accuracy of this report. Indeed, from our viewing point in Hastings, Nebraska, we also had the added tension that “the forenoon was slightly hazy, but it cleared away and left no obstruction while the eclipse was passing.”

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE

Its Appearance in Cedar Falls

Government Observations.

Report of the Party, &c., &c.

It is not often that an opportunity is offered to witness so wonderful an exhibition of nature as the eclipse of Saturday last. Those who witnessed this extraordinary spectacle intelligently, will never forget its impression. It excites the most lively feelings of awe and wonder, and a breathless intensity takes possession of one as he gazes upon this grand movement in the heavens. The sight certainly gives one, a clearer view of the infinite majesty and power of the Great Being, and seems to speak directly to us of His greatness. The day was favorable, the forenoon was slightly hazy, but it cleared away and left no obstruction while the eclipse was passing.

The parties of observations were quite successful. Cedar Falls was made one of the points of observation by the Government, and will hereafter be one of the points from wliich calculations will be made. The party sent out by the Government to take observations iu this city were Ed. W. Horr, son of Dr. Horr of the Smithsonian Institute, and Wm. I. Anderson and W. W. Wormood, of Dubuque.

References

South American Eclipse of 2 July 2019

In preparation for the total solar eclipse of 2 July 2019, which will be visible in Chile and Argentina, I have updated and translated into Spanish my “Take Your Kids To See The Eclipse” page. You can view the 2017 English version at this link.

En preparación para el eclipse solar total del 2 de julio de 2019, que será visible en Chile y Argentina, actualicé y traduje al español mi página “Lleve a sus niños a ver el eclipse”. Puedes ver la versión de 2017 en inglés en este enlace.

Einstein and the Eclipse of 1919

Eclipse as seen on Principe. Wikipedia photo.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the eclipse of May 29, 1919. The total solar eclipse, which darkened the skies over a band from South America to Africa, had the distinction of having the longest totality (6 minutes 51 seconds) of any since 1416.

Einstein in 1921. Wikipedia image.

But the eclipse was most notable as making possible an experiment that demonstrated one of the predictions of Albert Einstein‘s General Theory of Relativity published in 1915. The gravitational pull of a large object (such as the sun) would bend light waves passing close by, and Einstein predicted how large the effect would be. He noted that a solar eclipse would be the perfect opportunity to prove or disprove the theory, since stars close to the sun would be visible. Their “correct” location in the sky was known. If they could be observed in the “wrong” location, then the measured location would confirm his theoretical findings.

The first attempt was done in conjunction with the eclipse of August 21, 1914. An expedition made up of German and U.S. astronomers traveled to Crimea to observe the eclipse. Unfortunately, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The German scientists were either sent home or taken prisoner. The U.S. astronomers were not detained, but clouds prevented the necessary observations.

Dyson (left) and Eddington (right). (Photo credit.)

The 1919 eclipse was the next opportunity, and an experiment was organized by British astronomers Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington. This came to be known as the Eddington experiment. Rather than place all eggs in the same basket, as happened in Crimea, the 1919 experiment would have observations taken at two sites: Sobral, Brazil, and the island of Principe off the west coast of Africa.

In Principe, even though clouds obscured the sun until shortly before the eclipse, the team was able to make several photographic plates, one of which showed the background stars clearly enough. The positions did confirm Einstein’s predictions.

While the scientific community was slow to fully accept the findings, the popular press jumped on board, and Einstein’s name became a household word as a result of the experiment. The news clipping below, for example, calling the experiment “the greatest discovery in history” appeared in the Washington Times on November 9, 1919.

Eclipse of April 8, 2024

2024 Eclipse Path. NOAA image.

As we did in 2017, OneTubeRadio.com will provide full coverage of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse.

This is exactly five years from today. Little preparation is needed at this point, but you should make a mental note to travel to the path of totality, which is less than a days’ drive from most of the United States. The total eclipse will be visible in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, a tiny piece of Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path of totality also passes through Mexico and Canada. Major cities in the path of totality include Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Montreal.

The eclipse will take place on a Monday. For the 2017 eclipse, we made our hotel reservations about a year in advance, and paid the normal rate with plenty of availability. So if you plan on booking in April 2023, you should have many options. Also, in late 2023 or early 2024, you should order your eclipse glasses.

If you have kids who will be in school, plan on taking them out of school that day. Unfortunately, the 2017 eclipse showed that American schools had an irrational fear of the eclipse and actively prevented children from witnessing it. If you believe that your child’s school is more enlightened, then on the first day of the 2023-24 school year, you should have your children ask the science teacher if the school is planning a field trip to see it. If the teacher balks, then your children should let him or her know that they will be absent the day of the eclipse.

This is an entirely reasonable request for most schools. For example, students in Chicago could be placed on a school bus and taken to see the eclipse only a couple of hours’ drive away in Indiana. The expense will be less than other field trips taken to amusement parks, movies, etc. This is true for schools in many cities. They have the opportunity to let the kids witness an amazing scientific event, but only if they do some basic planning.

But I predict that this won’t happen, since most schools won’t think of the possibility until after it’s too late to make the necessary plans, or they’ll have the same irrational fears that showed up in 2017. It’s the duty of the students to pester the administration so that the necessary plans are made sufficiently in advance. And as I explained in 2017, if the school fails to act, then it’s reasonable for children to skip school on April 8, 2024.

Solar Eclipse of February 26, 1979

1979 eclipse as seen in Bozeman, Montana. Wikipedia photo.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the solar eclipse of February 26, 1979. The path of totality passed through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota before entering Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories. From Canada, the path of totality entered the north Atlantic before ending in Greenland.

The path through Winnipeg, Manitoba, was tantalizingly close to my home in Minnesota, but I was unable to travel to see the spectacle. I had to settle for 90% coverage (in other words, millions of times more sunlight) where I was. I did vow that I would see the next one, in 2017, and I did.

This video shows coverage of the eclipse as totality passed through Winnipeg:

Lunar Eclipse, January 20, 2019

NASA image.

While not nearly as spectacular as a solar eclipse, another interesting astronomical phenomenon will be visible this Sunday evening throughout the Western Hemisphere. This will be a lunar eclipse, in which the moon passes through the shadow of the earth.

The eclipse begins at 9:36 PM Eastern Time (8:36 CST, 7:36 MST, 6:36 PST) with the penumbral phase, as the moon enters the outer shadow of the earth. The brightness of the moon will decrease, but the small change in brightness probably won’t be visible to the naked eye.

About an hour later at 10:33 PM Eastern Time (9:33 CST, 8:33 MST, 7:33 PST), the eclipse enters the partial stage. At this time, the earth’s shadow begins to eat away at the moon. This continues until 11:41 PM Eastern Time (10:41 CST, 9:41 MST, 8:41 PST), when the eclipse becomes full, and the moon is completely within the shadow of the earth.

Unlike a solar eclipse, the times are more or less identical wherever you are. You only need to adjust for your time zone.

Image result for lunar eclipse site:nasa.gov Even though the eclipse is full, the moon does not become fully dark. This is because the moon is illuminated by a ring surrounding the earth, namely, all of the sunrises and sunsets taking place on earth.

At 12:43 AM Eastern Time, the eclipse once again becomes partial. At 1:50 AM Eastern Time, it re-enters the penumbral phase. At 2:48 AM Eastern Time, the eclipse ends.

We previously wrote of an interesting story of a lunar eclipse of July 15, 1916. This eclipse affected the Shackleton Antarctic expedition. The team led by Aeneas Mackintosh was waiting for a full moon to embark, but were surprised to see the moon entering an eclipse as it rose. Fortunately, the eclipse was only partial and enough light remained to make the voyage.

NBC Radio, Canton Island Eclipse Coverage, 1937

This picture appeared in an RCA advertisement in Life magazine 80 years ago today, September 5, 1938. It shows NBC engineers Marvyn Adams and W.R. Brown along with NBC announcer George Hicks broadcasting live from Canton Island (sometimes spelled Kanton) in the South Pacific.

1937 Eclipse from Canton Island. Wikipedia image.

They were on the island as part of a joint expedition by the U.S. Navy and the National Geographic Society for the solar eclipse of June 8, 1937. The NBC eclipse coverage was transmitted from this “ultra-high frequency transmitter” to the USS Avocet anchored at the island, and from there to the RCA station at Point Reyes, California, where it went by wire to the NBC Blue Network.

According to the ad, the island would possibly “play an important role in transpacific air transport service,” a prophecy which proved true, as the island served as a stop for PanAm’s Pacific Clipper service to New Zealand, which ran from 1940 until the war, and then again from 1946.

The Navy-National Geographic expedition, in addition to observing the eclipse, placed a monument on the island to bolster the U.S. claim to sovereignty over the island. This was disputed by the British, who also had a ship anchored for the eclipse. Reportedly, the British ship, the HMS Wellington, fired a shot across the bow of the USS Avocet, which reciprocated. The two commanders called a truce pending further instructions from their command, and the two parties observed the eclipse together.

During the war, the U.S. Navy built a 6230 foot airstrip on the island, which was defended by as many as 1200 combat forces, but was never attacked by Japan. The island now forms part of the Republic of Kiribati. As of 2010, it had a population of 24.

The island was most recently in the news that year after a yacht stopped en route from Honolulu to Fiji and discovered that the islanders were desperately short of food, an expected supply ship never having arrived. The islanders had been living on fish and coconuts for several months, and the yacht owner used his satellite phone to contact the U.K. Coast Guard, which contacted the U.S. Coast Guard to arrange relief supplies.

1952 and 1954 Solar Eclipses

Millions of Americans were able to witness the Great American Eclipse of 2017 or will be able to see the eclipse of April 8, 2024. The 2017 eclipse crossed the United States from northwest to southeast, and the 2024 eclipse will run from southwest to northeast. The Soviet Union had a similar pair of eclipses on 25 February 1952 and 30 June 1954. The intersection of the two American eclipses is near Carbondale, Illinois. The paths of the two Soviet eclipses had their intersection at a point in northern Iran, just south of the Caspian Sea.

SovietEclipseMap

The illustrations shown here are from a Soviet booklet published in 1950. In addition to discussing solar and lunar eclipses generally, it contains information about the two Soviet eclipses of the 1950’s, including the map shown above. It also contains a table showing all total solar eclipses worldwide through 1999.

Prof. Mikhailov. Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences photo.

The booklet, Солнечные и лунные затмения (Solar and Lunar Eclipses) by Prof. A.A. Mikhailov, part of the series Научно-популярная библиотека (Popular science library), reveals that the path of the 1954 eclipse came very close to a number of Soviet cities, including Kaliningrad, Vilnius, Minsk, Kiev, Rostov, and Baku. The 1954 eclipse had also been visible in the United States, starting at sunrise in Nebraska, and passing over South Dakota and Minnesota (including Minneapolis and St. Paul). It then passed over Canada, Greenland, a tiny portion of Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, before entering the Soviet Union near Kaliningrad.

The 1952 eclipse, after passing over Africa, went over a less populated area of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Asiatic Russia.

This video shows the 1954 eclipse from Minneapolis:

This page contains a reminiscence and photo of the same eclipse from Kiev. The Google translate function does an admirable job of making it readable in English.

One of the scientific observations made during the 1954 eclipse was the measurement of radio emissions by the sun on various frequencies, documented in this 1955 article in the journal Astrophisica Norvegica, vol. 5, p. 131. The graph below shows the signal as received in Vesterøya, Norway, on 200 MHz. As would be expected, the solar noise reaches a minimum value at the time of total eclipse.

Information on how to form a Minnesota LLC.