Caoimhín's Content

Today, we will be looking at the eclipses, a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse, as we have one of each coming up in March. The first eclipse, the lunar one, is occurring on the 14th, but very early in the morning, so we will start on the 13th with sunset instead. The Moon is a little closer to being 100% full at sunset on the 13th than the 14th, about 99.8% full while the sky is still orange from the sunset. Venus, Jupiter and Mars will be visible in the sky along with the Full Moon. The planet Uranus is up as well, but we’re not looking at the planets for today.

We will be looking at the Moon, and looking at the sky while the Moon is going into the Earth’s shadow for the lunar eclipse. Sometimes, even without looking straight at the Moon, you are able to see the sky darken when the Moon goes into our shadow. At first only the sort of half-shadow or penumbra, the outer edge of the Earths shadow, will cross onto the Moon, and this is barely perceptible. By the time the true shadow of the Earth is coming onto the Moon, it’s very hard to see that the sky is getting a little bit darker, because the sky is also getting brighter, getting brighter due to the light of the Sun coming up in the east. We will see the lunar eclipse from Ireland looking in the west over here at about 5:30 in the morning. Really, you should ideally start observing at around 5 o’clock and continue till 6 o’clock or so. Even with your naked eye you’ll be able to see the true shadow of the Earth but with a binoculars you’ll be able to see a little bit more.

The shadow of the earth will cover a bit more than half of the Moon before the sky gets too bright. About two-thirds red is the most of what we will see, that is the greatest amount of the eclipse practically visible here in Ireland. Looking at the Moon with a wider field of view, you can see that there’s stuff in the way, there are trees, hills, and other things in the way. The Moon will likely dip below these. If there was nothing in the way, we could look at the eclipse for a longer span of time, but not by much. A perfectly flat horizon brings us pretty close to seeing the maximum point of the eclipse, but the eclipse could still be a bit more total. This eclipse will be a little bit easier to see from locations closer to the equator, and further west. Before the partially eclipsed Moon even sets, the Sun starts coming up. That’s the biggest problem for us here in Ireland, the eclipse will still be going on, but the sky will get too bright to see the Moon correctly. Just as the Moon is getting eclipsed, the Moon reaches 100% full. The Moon is totally full there, but the Sun is almost up making the sky too bright for much to be seen.

As I mentioned in a recent piece, if the atmosphere isn’t there to scatter that sunlight, then the orange yellow glow wouldn’t be there to obscure the Moon. If the atmosphere isn’t there to scatter the sunlight, then that atmosphere isn’t there to bend the light from the Moon either. The atmosphere almost bends the Moon “up”, the Moon is a little bit lower in the sky if you’ve got no atmosphere to bend the light coming from it. Even with a perfectly flat horizon, that we aren’t able to get in the real world, and no atmosphere to scatter the light of sunrise, also impossible, we don’t quite see the totality of the lunar eclipse from here in Ireland. There is no place perfectly flat anywhere in the real world, but there are places that are close. We don’t have to rely on sorts of ground that aren’t real on the Earth, if we just go to a different place we will be able to see the lunar eclipse a little bit better.

Most importantly, we need to move west. Even at 52 degrees north, this eclipse is visible briefly as total from even the Atlantic Coast of North America. We will also go a little closer to the equator here, so that the Moon is higher in the sky. The Moon should go through a darker part of our shadow, closer to the center of it. We are low enough on the planet at 39 degrees north for the eclipse to be total, but that’s not that close to the equator, we could go a little bit closer, and we will. If you are looking at the Moon from around 40 degrees north, the amount of the eclipse is a little bit more than we were able to see in Ireland. More importantly from the middle of the United States of America, the Moon is up in the middle of the sky for the middle of the eclipse. For that reason it’s a lot easier to see the darkness when the darkness starts. As the Moon rises up into the sky, when the Moon goes into our shadow, the sky gets much darker. Then it moves out of our shadow and the sky is bright again. This has an effect of how observable faint objects are.

We will go through from start to finish from a place with a good but not perfect view. In the early part of the night, we get to see the part that we are able to see easily from Ireland. It’s still hard to see the penumbra, the sort of outside of our shadow, our sort of half-shadow, going across the Moon, but it is just about visible. The real shadow of the Earth, the umbra, is obvious as soon as it starts coming onto the Moon. It’s very dark, and a bit red from the get go. The real red colour is only obvious when the eclipse is total. With part of the Moon still illuminated, with sunlight bouncing straight off the Moon, until that light is gone from our view it’s tough to see the colour. As soon as the eclipse is truly total, you can see that sort of red colour. This is why the total eclipse of the Moon is called the Blood Moon in English, in certain parts of the world, because the eclipse is red when the eclipse is total. Then we go back to the normal Moon, before the Moon has set if you are in the right place.

As I said, we’ll be able to see more of the eclipse if we were a little bit closer to the equator, down to around 20 degrees north or so. The eclipse certainly seems a little bit darker, and a little bit redder at totality. If you are down in Mexico you ‘should be able to see the eclipse even better than people who are up in the United States of America. If you are out in the Caribbean as well, there’s a good chance that your view will be very good. However, in Mexico and the southern part of the United States, the Moon will be almost directly in the middle of the sky at midnight. It will at least be directly in the south, and close to the equator it will be almost over head. This is really the perfect circumstance for looking at the eclipse. From the Caribbean or other places, it would be a little bit more like Ireland, the Moon won’t be as high in the sky. It will still be nice, and although the Moon won’t be over head, it will still be higher in the west at totality and totality will still be visible, unlike here in Ireland. Now that I’m after talking about it now, I have to find out for myself if the view is still very good from out in the Caribbean. It look like totality here will be around 2 o’clock in the morning. That’s still good enough, not as late as here in Ireland. So, around 2 o’clock in the morning if you are in the Caribbean. Those other places, the south of the United States, most of Mexico, as well as much of South America, will all get to see totality at close to midnight. We will be able to see part of the eclipse from here in Ireland and other parts of Europe as well, but it won’t be as good as it will be from these places.

We will push ahead to look at the solar eclipse. We are only going to look at the eclipse of the Sun very quickly, as even in the best place on Earth to see it, I think that the eclipse still isn’t too good. This solar eclipse, from at least almost the best place in which to see it, in Northern Canada, occurs very early in the morning. The Moon will be 0% illuminated as it must be the New Moon to go in front of the Sun. Just as the Sun rises the eclipse will occur, with the peak just a little after sunrise. It should get up to 93% eclipsed, but 92.5% is the best I can do in simulation, still that’s very close. That’s how obscured the Sun will be for this solar eclipse in the best place. The region of Canada is very far north, close to the coast facing Greenland. If we go to Greenland there should be a good enough view. The eclipse happens at sunrise, so it must happen in the east, but the eastern coast of Greenland is further from the best location. From the western coast, you would need to look back across Greenland to the sunrise. It won’t be a perfect view, it won’t be as good as the view from Canada, but it should still be good. In the Stellarium software there certainly is a lot of the Sun covered, the highest point seems to be 86%. This is still a good partial solar eclipse.

This is the sort of solar eclipse that is perfect to look at with a box. Some sort of box, like a shoebox, with a very small hole, just a pinprick, on one wall of the box. A shoe box is good because it is rectangular, making it easy to point at the Sun, with a pinprick on one of the short sides. The lid is useful as well, it’s best if it opens on the side facing away from the Sun. If you have a way of looking at the Sun’s light falling on something after shining through a pinhole, you should be able to observe the eclipse indirectly. If you have a piece of cardboard or card big enough to cast a shadow with a hole in it to let the light of the Sun shine through, you’ll be able to see the shadow of the Moon coming in the way, blocking out part of the circular light being created by the pinhole. This lets you see the eclipse without looking straight at the Sun, which you should never do, that’s one of the best ways especially for a partial eclipse.

I am going to talk about the solar eclipse again, maybe in English, at the end of March when we are outside of Seachtain na Gaeilge. The Seachtain na Gaeilge festival is currently on going, so happy Seachtain na Gaeilge to you all. I’m sure you’re doing something for Seachtain na Gaeilge if you are in Ireland, the attached video is in Irish if you’d like to watch it, with english subtitles included of course. If you enjoyed this piece then make sure you like it and if you like this sort of information then make sure you subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel. Thank you for reading and I’m sure I’ll see you back here again.