SUN ECLIPSE. This Monday, April 8, 2024, part of the world will be able to observe a total solar eclipse. If it is not visible in France, the show will be broadcast live online. At what time ? which countries are affected? How to explain the phenomenon? The answers to your questions.
[Mis à jour le 8 avril 2024 à 6h57] A total solar eclipse, a phenomenon that occurs when the Moon is perfectly aligned with the Earth and the Sun, will perform this Monday, April 8, 2024 on the other side of the Atlantic, which means that Europe, France included, will unfortunately not be able to attend the show.
This 15th total eclipse of the 21st century will plunge 44 million people into darkness for a few minutes, with temperatures dropping suddenly between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. French time. The luckiest will be the Mexicans for whom the duration of the night will be longer, in total 4 minutes and 28 seconds. The show will be most spectacular in Nazas, a city in northwest Mexico since it is located right in the heart of the eclipse’s “band of totality.”
The eclipse will indeed cross a perimeter of approximately 185 kilometers in North America, starting with the Pacific coast of Mexico, crossing the United States passing through the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri , Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to finish in Canada, crossing southern Ontario then Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. The eclipse will end on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. If in France, the next eclipse of sun total will not take place before September 3, 2081, how to follow the celestial show online? And how can we explain the phenomenon of total, annular or partial solar eclipse? We tell you everything.
Astronomy enthusiasts, you can follow the eclipse spectacle broadcast live on NASA YouTube channel or on the site Timeanddate.com. The NASA broadcast will begin from 7 p.m. (French time) until 10 p.m. to follow the entire trajectory. NASA has published a interactive map of the total eclipse, that space enthusiasts can use to follow its entire passage.
With the eclipse approaching in less than a week, over half of US cities along the eclipse’s path are fully booked for the night of April 7th according to data from @airdna pic.twitter.com/SLVpyKu2Oe
— Jamie Lane (@Jamie_Lane) April 2, 2024
The total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024 will begin near the Pacific coast of Mexico at 11:07 a.m. PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) and end on the Atlantic coast of Canada at 5:16 p.m. NDT (Newfoundland Daylight Time) i.e. 9:46 p.m. French time.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth, Moon and Sun are perfectly aligned in the same plane. The Moon then projects its shadow on the Earth, thus masking the Sun, and plunging part of our planet in the dark for a few minutes.
The Earth revolves around the Sun in a plane called the “ecliptic plane”. The Moon, for its part, revolves around the Earth in another plane. Thus, at the new Moon, when our satellite is located between the Earth and the Sun, it is generally not aligned perfectly with them. This is why there is no solar eclipse every new moon. Exceptionally, all the conditions are met: Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned in this order on the ecliptic plane. A solar eclipse then occurs.
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Earth-Moon-Sun alignment is not perfect, when the Moon passes slightly above or below the Earth-Sun alignment. The Moon only hides a piece of the Sun, which is not enough to completely darken the sky. “To begin to have a sensation of darkness in the sky, to perceive a sort of cold light, you need at least 95% obscuration of the Sun,” Florent Deleflie, astronomer at the Paris Observatory, told AFP. . This astronomical phenomenon of partial solar eclipse, which occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are imperfectly aligned, does not darken the sky and is only observable with protection. adequate, under penalty ofirreversible retinal burns”, warns Florent Deleflie, of the Paris Observatory.
Between the partial and total eclipse, the annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are perfectly aligned with the Earth but the apparent size of the Moon is slightly smaller than that of the Sun. This then forms a bright ring surrounding the lunar disk. The next annular eclipses will be visible completely from France on the following dates: November 5, 2059 then February 27, 2082.
On Tuesday October 25, 2022, a partial solar eclipse was visible in the sky in France. However, the Sun had not been hidden in the same way depending on the region. Indeed, it was in the east of the country that the partial eclipse was most visible. In Strasbourg, the obscuration rate was almost 20%. Even at the peak of the eclipse, over Kazakhstan, the Sun was more than 80% hidden. An insufficient figure to have a perception of darkness in broad daylight, since an obscuration of at least 95% of the Sun is required. Discover the most beautiful photos of this solar eclipse around the world:
Find all the dates of the next total solar eclipses in the world, but also partial and annular eclipses in France, in our file below.
The next solar eclipses visible from France will be partial. A partial eclipse shows only part of the Sun obscured by the Moon. They will be visible in France on the following dates: March 29, 2025 and the August 12, 2026.
An extremely rare phenomenon, a total solar eclipse only occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned perfectly. French astronomy enthusiasts will have to be patient. The next total solar eclipse in France will take place on September 3, 2081followed closely by a second complete eclipse on September 29, 2090. In the meantime, it will still be possible to see the Moon partially obscure the Sun.
If you want to enjoy the spectacle of a total solar eclipse in Europe, you will have two chances to see one… In 6 years! August 12, 2026 First, darkness will cover northern Spain and part of Iceland. This total solar eclipse will only be partially visible in France. The next year, August 2, 2027, a second total eclipse will be visible in the far south of Spain. If you stay in France, you will still be able to enjoy a very beautiful partial eclipse.
To observe a solar eclipse with the naked eye, you must wear special glasses. Classic sunglasses are not enough to protect the retina. During the eclipse, with the decrease in brightness, the pupils will tend to dilate. When the sun suddenly reappears, serious retinal damage can occur. These burns are not painful, so you should be particularly wary of them.
Tricks like watching the eclipse through a CD or through smoked glass are not effective. To protect your eyes and make the most of the eclipse, go to an astronomy club where you can observe the eclipse indirectly through projection. The simplest solution: make a small hole in a piece of cardboard, point it towards the sun and observe the projected eclipse. Please note that glasses allowing you to observe the eclipse without danger are available for around 2 euros. It is also possible to buy them in shopping centers or in stores such as Nature et Découverte, or to order them on the Internet.