Greetings, fellow stargazers, the heavens have a treat for us, compliments of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. Those two sky deities are going to be doing a celestial tango. That’s right plan on a partial solar eclipse on October 23, 2014 says Space Ref. And just in time to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. The West Michigan Hindu Temple says it’s postponing Diwali festivities till October 24 in honor of the eclipse.
A solar eclipse, remember, is when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, from our perspective, thereby blocking the view of the sun by earthlings. As this is a partial eclipse, the sun will look like a cookie with a bite out of it.
On October 8, we got to see a spectacular lunar eclipse. This time it’s the earth blocking the light of the sun so it doesn’t shine on the moon. That lunar eclipse was a TKO! But the neat thing about the October 23 partial solar eclipse is that A) it’s during the day B) it’s visible to more people and C) it’ll last a lot longer. Solar eclipses can last over two hours because the sun’s bigger and farther away than the moon.
Where and when you’ll see the eclipse depends on where you are. It will be after noon in the United States. Detroit, Grand Rapids and most of Michigan will see the eclipse beginning around 5:30 pm to around 8 pm, says Time and Date.
Sky & Telescope gives a chart for solar eclipse viewing times and explains that the farther north you are, the deeper the eclipse will look (the bigger the cookie bite). The farther west, the higher in the sky the sun/moon dance will be. And if you visualize a line running north from Central Texas up through the Dakotas, and if you live east of line, well, that solar eclipse is going to visible through sunset.
If (and that’s a big if) Mother Nature holds off clouds and rain, that is.