2 showing the geometry of this phenomenon. The umbra is an ellipse of 150 miles or less in which a total solar eclipse can been seen. Within the penumbra is the smaller, darker part called the umbra. In the penumbra, only partial solar eclipses can be seen. The larger, lighter part is called the penumbra, and can span entire continents. A total eclipse occurs only during a new moon, when the Moon moves between Earth and the Sun creating a shadow on Earth’s surface.
This coincidence makes both bodies the same size when viewed from Earth, enabling the Moon to cover the Sun when their orbits intersect. Illustration by What Causes an Eclipse?Įven though the Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon, it is also 400 times farther away. 1 will see a total eclipse.įigure 1 Path of the Great American Eclipse. Everyone in the US will see at least a partial eclipse, but those in the corridor of totality as shown in Fig. The Moon’s shadow will begin in the Pacific, enter the state of Oregon, and create a 70-mile-wide corridor of totality (total eclipse) moving through portions of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and exiting off the coast of South Carolina. Thus, it is being billed as the “Great American Eclipse.” This is the first eclipse to be seen only in the continental US since the country was founded.
The next total eclipse of the Sun occurs on August 21, 2017.
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