{"id":11608,"date":"2024-04-08T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=11608"},"modified":"2024-04-08T04:40:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T04:40:32","slug":"the-total-solar-eclipse-is-a-cosmic-spectacle-well-worth-the-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/the-total-solar-eclipse-is-a-cosmic-spectacle-well-worth-the-hype\/","title":{"rendered":"The total solar eclipse is a cosmic spectacle well worth the hype"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n A composite photograph of the solar eclipse on Dec. 26, 2019 in Liwa, United Arab Emirates.\n (Abed Ismail\/Unsplash)<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nRobert Knobel<\/a>, Queen’s University, Ontario<\/a><\/em> and Kristine Spekkens<\/a>, Queen’s University, Ontario<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Eclipse fever has gripped North America, where many people are talking, worrying \u2014 and obsessing \u2014 about the April 8 total solar eclipse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The eclipse itself is beautiful and moving, and is an incredible opportunity to excite and involve the community in the scientific advances that eclipses have brought to us, and all the potential discoveries that we might see in the future \u2014 including possibly discovering life on other worlds.<\/p>\n\n

In a solar eclipse<\/a>, the moon passes in between Earth and the sun, casting its shadow on Earth<\/a>. The amazing coincidence is that the moon \u2014 about 400 times smaller than the sun \u2014 also happens to be about 400 times closer to us than the sun, and so they appear the same size from Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the sun, moon and Earth all line up, the shadow cast by the moon follows a narrow path that moves across the globe as the Earth rotates and the moon and Earth continue their orbital dances around the sun.<\/p>\n\n

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