Design

Tonight is Tuesday, Jul 21 2009

There are at least 2 solar eclipses in every calendar year. In 2009, the first solar eclipse fell on January 26 and the second one will occur tomorrow, on July 22. Then why do we think of solar eclipses as being so rare? It’s because each eclipse can be seen from a narrow band across Earth’s surface – the pathway of the moon’s shadow as it sweeps across Earth during eclipse time.

If you are in the Americas, you can’t watch tomorrow’s July 22, 2009 solar eclipse at all. To catch the total solar eclipse on land, you have to be in just the right spot in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, or the Japanese islands off the coast of southern Japan. You can also observe this total eclipse if you’re at the right spot on the Marshall or Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific. However, almost all of Asia will be in a position to watch a partial eclipse of the sun. Be sure to use proper eye protection when watching this eclipse!

A solar eclipse happens whenever the new moon swings in front of the sun, either partially or totally blocking out the solar disk. When the moon takes a bite-size chunk out of the sun, it’s a partial solar eclipse. When the moon sweeps directly in front of the sun, it’s dubbed a central eclipse. If the moon completely covers over the sun’s disk, it’s a total solar eclipse.

However, if the moon is too far away, the result is an annular solar eclipse. The thin ring of sunshine encircling the moon during an annular eclipse is called an annulus.

The January 26, 2009 eclipse was an annular eclipse, whereas tomorrow’s July’s 22nd eclipse will be a total solar eclipse. Often, solar eclipses recur 11 days earlier in the following year. The 2 solar eclipses in 2010 will fall on January 15 and July 11.