Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2016 August 21 
Posted on 08/22/2016 6:25:59 AM PDT by ThomasMore
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2016 August 21
Explanation: Would you like to see a total eclipse of the Sun? If so, do any friends or relatives live near the path of next summer's eclipse? If yes again, then you might want to arrange a visit for one year from today. Next year on this exact date, the path of a total solar eclipse will cut right across the center of the contiguous USA. All of North America and part of South America will experience, at the least, a partial solar eclipse. Featured here is a map of the path of totality, computed by eclipse expert Fred Espenak of NASA's GSFC. Many people who have seen a total solar eclipse tell stories about it for the rest of their lives. The last path of solar totality that included any part of the contiguous USA was in 1979, and the next two will be in 2024 and 2044.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
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It’s now on my calendar.
Will make my third!
This is a special time we’re living in which the moon and sun occupy the same approximate apparent size in the sky. Wasn’t always this way. And in won’t be the case down the line.
When the moon first formed it was a lot closer than it is now. And it continues to slip away today. They say it is drifting away from us at the rate of about 2 inches per year. Once it goes, the earth will begin to wobble uncontrollably, as the moon helps stabilize earth’s 23-1/2 degree tilt.
The longest duration will occur very close to New Madrid. Will anything shake loose there?
not drawn to scale.
so beautiful. Did you take those pics?
Definitely not. Earth is about 4 times as wide as the moon. The sun ~ 110 times as wide as the earth.
No. Got them from a NASA page.
Went to the eclipse in Hawaii, only to have clouds cover the sun for totality. Did see the shadow racing the earth, did experience the dark, but missed the exciting bit. Next year’s will be right over my house. Yesterday’s weather was perfect, but the days before were all cloudy. And there’ll be another one here in 2024.
the sizes and distances makes me realize it is by grand design...
Look at the map of the path...going almost entirely over predominantly white areas, and the best viewing from Jefferson Davis' birthplace.
Who knew that the moon is racist?
I hope to be under the “O” in Carolina, or, somewhere near it.
Depends on the cloud cover.
I wanted to be off the coast in my sailboat, but, it isn’t gonna work out.
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