The total phase of the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse as seen from Casper, Wyoming.
Image Credit: Keon Gibson, courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
By Liz Fuller-Wright, Office of Communications.
On Monday, April 8, the moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun for about four hours. For a few precious minutes, the Moon will completely block our view of our favorite star for people in the “path of totality.” Here in New Jersey, just outside that path, the eclipse will begin at 2:09 p.m., reach 90% of totality at 3:24 p.m., and end at 4:35 p.m.
Observers lucky enough — or determined enough — to be in the path of totality will have the rarest view on Earth: the Sun’s The outermost region of the Sun's atmosphere, consisting of thin, ionized gases at a temperature of about 1,000,000 K. It is visible to the naked eye during a solar eclipse., including Plasma consists of a gas heated to sufficiently high temperatures that the atoms ionize. The properties of the gas are controlled by electromagnetic forces among constituent ions and electrons, which results in different behavior than gas made primarily of neutral atoms like the Earth’s atmosphere. Plasma is often considered the fourth state of matter (besides solid, liquid, and gas). Most of the matter in the Universe is in the plasma state. tendrils streaming outwards. And because we are near the maximum point of the Sun’s 11-year solar activity cycle, the corona should put on quite a show on April 8. The 2017 total eclipse, by contrast, took place near the The period during a solar cycle when the number of sunspots and the solar activity is at a minimum. The most recent minimum occurred in 2019., so eclipse-watchers saw little activity around the Sun.
“Because we’re in a The time interval for some regular event to take place; for example, the time required for one complete orbit of a body around another. of high solar activity, everyone in the path of totality has a chance to see beautiful loops and streams of plasma coming off of the Sun,” said Jo Dunkley, Princeton’s Joseph Henry Professor of Physics and Astrophysical Sciences.
“We often think of the Sun as a smooth ball, but if you look at it closely, it’s not like that at all. It’s not solid, it’s a whirling maelstrom of plasma,” she said. “During an eclipse, you get to see the loops and streams of stuff swirling off of the Sun.”
Some 30 million Americans live within the path of totality, and more than 200 million live within a few hours’ drive. When equipped with eclipse viewers, they can safely watch the moon’s journey across the sun’s face and see the slowly swirling corona.
Learn more on the Princeton University website.