Avi Blizovsky
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/likuiantarktica.html
Penguins, professional scientists and amateur astronomers are among the few who will have the experience of a total solar eclipse in Antarctica today. The 500-kilometer-wide shadow that the moon will cast on Earth will cross the South Pacific Ocean and the frozen steppes of the White Continent at a speed of up to a kilometer per second.
It will take about an hour for the eclipse to travel the 5,000-kilometer path, but those who will watch it on the ground will have a full eclipse in less than two minutes.
Total solar eclipses occur approximately once a year or two and always when the moon is new - that is, when the body of the moon is exactly between the earth and the sun. However, this does not happen every month. The moon's orbit is slightly tilted to the one where the earth orbits the sun and therefore the moon's shadow misses most of the earth's surface. Says Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist from NASA who will be among the lucky ones to watch the eclipse today. He is also known as "Mr. Eclipse" and he tries not to miss a single solar eclipse.
The next total eclipse will take place in April 2005, and will be viewable from the heart of the Pacific Ocean.
Astronomer
For news at the BBC
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~695247678~~~171&SiteName=hayadan
