File:NOAA Satellites View Total Solar Eclipse (NESDIS 2024-04-12 2024-4-12-Total-Solar-Eclipse).webm

English: On April 8, 2024, the moon moved directly between the Earth and sun, completely blocking the sun’s light and causing a total solar eclipse. During this event, the moon’s shadow passed over parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and millions of people were treated to a celestial show where the sky darkened as if it were dawn or dusk throughout its path of totality. Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on the Earth’s surface. There are three main types of solar eclipses: Total Solar Eclipse: This occurs when the moon completely covers the sun, blocking out its light entirely. During a total solar eclipse, the sky darkens significantly, and the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, becomes visible. Total solar eclipses are only visible from a narrow path on Earth's surface, known as the path of totality. Outside this path, observers may see a partial eclipse. These types of eclipses occur due to an amazing cosmic coincidence. The sun just happens to be about 400 times wider than the moon, but also just happens to be about 400 times farther away. Due to this, they just happen to appear the same size in our sky during a total solar eclipse. What are the odds? If the moon or sun were even a slightly different size or distance from Earth, this phenomenon would not occur. However, as the moon orbits Earth, it is constantly drifting a little farther and farther away by a few centimeters every year, and its orbit is becoming wider. Due to this, one day, millions or even billions of years in the future, the moon’s position will move too far away to fully obstruct the disk of the sun and no more total solar eclipses will occur on Earth—only annular eclipses will be visible. Partial Solar Eclipse: In a partial solar eclipse, the moon only partially covers the sun, leaving a crescent-shaped portion of the sun still visible. The degree of coverage depends on the observer's location relative to the path of the eclipse. Partial solar eclipses are visible over a much broader area than total eclipses. Annular Solar Eclipse: An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is too far from the Earth to completely cover the sun's disk due to its elliptical orbit. As a result, a ring of sunlight remains visible around the edges of the moon, creating a "ring of fire" effect. Annular eclipses happen when the moon is near the farthest point from Earth in its orbit (apogee), and the Earth is near the farthest point from the sun in its orbit (aphelion).