In the shadow of the Moon – total solar eclipse visible from the USA

DLR German Aerospace Center
- Web Portal News -

In the shadow of the Moon – total solar eclipse visible from the USA


A total solar eclipse is spectacular for observers: "Around 30 seconds before the Sun disappears entirely behind the Moon, it becomes noticeably darker in the middle of the day, as if someone had quickly turned the dimmer switch for a light," explains Manfred Gaida, an astrophysicist in the Space Administration team at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), describing the phenomenon. The Moon moves in front of the Sun until just a luminous halo – the corona – can be seen. Where the conical umbra reaches the Earth, the sky goes dark. The partial phase of the eclipse begins around 75 to 90 minutes beforehand, and lasts for the same amount of time after the eclipse, until the 'all-around twilight' has completely disappeared.


Full article with animation and images: http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10081/151_read-23742/#/gallery/27932

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