Millions of people equipped with telescopes, filter cameras and special glasses observed this Saturday the “ring of fire”, formed by an annular solar eclipse, which moved across the continent, from north to South America.
The eclipse began to become visible in the United States, in the state of Oregon, shortly after 9:00 am local time (5:00 pm in Lisbon), on the Pacific coast. It then continued south and drew applause in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Later it was seen in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and other places in Central America.
The first opportunity to see the phenomenon in South America was in Colombia. At the Bogotá Planetarium, an astronomical center, a thousand people cheered around noon as the clouds showed them the eclipse.
NOW: Beautiful recording of the solar eclipse in Quixadá, Ceará. #SolarEclipse
– CHOQUEI (@choquei) October 14, 2023
Bad weather threatened to obscure the view, but the “ring of fire”, the effect created by the fact that the moon did not completely cover the sun, was visible for a few seconds, causing smiles and tears of joy.
Xiomara Cifuentes was moved to tears. With her husband and three young and teenage children. She observed through a makeshift telescope.
Initially, when the sky was cloudy, it was “disturbing”, he told AFP. Then it became ‘very emotional’. It will be “a pleasant memory” for the family, the 41-year-old official said.
Protected with special glasses, Jhoan Vinazco, a 25-year-old university student, saw a solar eclipse for the first time. It was “a very beautiful moment (…) something indescribable, without words,” he said.
NASA, which broadcast the phenomenon live for nearly two hours, urged people to take precautions and wear sunglasses, and never regular sunglasses, to preserve their vision.
Eclipse with sounds
On the Yucatán Peninsula (east), where the phenomenon was most visible in Mexico, hundreds gathered at the Grand Museo Mundo Maya. “Witnessing a solar eclipse here is an unforgettable and energetic experience,” said Pierre Durand, a 42-year-old French anthropologist.
In Penonomé, 100 miles from Panama City, Carlos Ramírez received the solar eclipse dressed as a space traveler. “I have dreamed of becoming an astronaut since I was a child (…) I thought the event here in Panama was spectacular,” Ramírez, a 55-year-old tourist guide of Colombian descent, told AFP.
I filmed and photographed the solar eclipse from my balcony and brought it here for you. pic.twitter.com/JlwuQu2PeT
– Flavio Costa (@flaviocostaf) October 14, 2023
Even for those who don’t see it, there was an opportunity. Santos Espinal, 54, was among a dozen blind people who enjoyed the solar eclipse at the Astronomical Observatory of the National University of Honduras, using the “Light to Sound” technological system. “When the eclipse changes, the sound also changes,” he told AFP emotionally.
Missiles
The event also serves as an appetizer for a total solar eclipse that will take place in April 2024.
Both eclipses will be “absolutely stunning for science,” said Madhulika Guhathakurta, a scientist with NASA’s heliophysics program.
Solar eclipses have a noticeable effect on the upper atmosphere, as well as on the ionosphere, which is full of charged particles and responsible for reflecting and refracting radial waves.
“Although the atmospheric effects of solar eclipses have been studied for more than fifty years, there are still many unanswered questions,” Guhathakurta said.
To study these effects, NASA will launch three rockets from the Arenas Blancas Missile Field in New Mexico to collect information about electric and magnetic fields, electron density and temperature.
In 2017, a total solar eclipse was recorded in the United States. After the total solar eclipse in April next year, the next one won’t occur until 2044, while another annular solar eclipse is planned for 2046.
A new total solar eclipse will also be visible in Spain in August 2026.
The sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, but it is also 400 times further away from our planet. Therefore, when viewed from Earth, the two stars appear to be of similar size.
Source: DN
