Ron Ford
2021 is getting its first solar eclipse this Thursday and it’ll look like a “ring of fire” or perhaps even like a “death star”.
The eclipse will have a viewing window of 100 minutes but the whole planet will not be able to witness it. Those located in the Northern Hemisphere, and specially living in Canada, Russia and Greenland will get a front row view to witnessing a total solar eclipse.
Although you won’t be able to witness a total solar eclipse if you don’t reside in the above regions, you will still be able to view a partial solar eclipse if you happen to be in North America, Europe and Asia.
The total solar eclipse will look like a Death Star from Star Wars according to Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist who works at the American Museum of Natural History, which is located in New York City.
Faherty also said, “Most people might not realize that these eclipses chase each other”, a direct reference to the recent “Blood moon”.
Faherty added, “You get lunar eclipses and solar eclipses back to back. And the reason for that is that the moon going around the Earth, it’s not perfectly circular, but a near-perfectly circular orbit when it’s lined up.”
“So, it’s kind of off the plane of the Earth-sun system by about five degrees, which is why we don’t get total lunar and total solar eclipses every month. But when you do get a total lunar eclipse, you’ve got a total solar eclipse on its way to because it means that the system has come into alignment.”
If you are a fan of Star Wars and belong to a region who will be able to witness the total solar eclipse, you better ready your solar eclipse viewing glasses.
This might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to live your childhood dreams.