Total solar eclipse are marvelous quirks of nature that go on once every 18 month or so . But unless you live in , or are about to travel to , the eye of the Pacific , you ’re conk to be ride the next one out .
On March 9th , a young Moon will swing out across the Pacific in the ecliptic plane ; that is , the plane in which the Earth revolve the Sun . As it passes in front of the Sun , the Moon will cast a apparition on the Earth , causing abbreviated dark and lead at least a few people to declare that the goal is nigh . In expectancy of the celestial effect , NASA has create a series of visualizations showing on the nose which parts of the world will be affected . Mostly — other than Indonesia and Papa New Guinea — we’re talking parts of the world without humans .
It ’s only within the umbra , that little shameful oval in the kernel of the animations above and below , that the Moon will completely stop the Sun for several minutes . In the much wider , shadowy bullseye know as the penumbra , the sky will darken , but the Sun wo n’t completely go away .

Here ’s another depiction of the event , this one , from the perspective of a telescopic lens on a television camera situate behind the Moon . The boundary of the penumbra is outline in lily-livered :
If you do n’t live in any of these places , your best wager is to retrieve a live broadcast online ( here ’s one from Micronesia ) , or to check out theSolar Dynamics Laboratoryfor beautiful images of the eclipse after it happens . Or , hey , perhaps this is the perfect exculpation to take that tripper to Guam you keep putting off . After all , the next entire solar occultation is n’t coming untilAugust 21st , 2017 .
[ NASA Scientific Visualization Studio ]

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