March 25, 2024
“这对我来说是一个重要的时刻, 我将有机会与我的社区分享天文学,” Carter said. “I’m very excited because I’ve never seen an eclipse this close to totality before, and an eclipse like this will not occur again in our part of the world during my lifetime.”
A solar eclipse happens when the moon blocks the light of the sun and creates a shadow that passes over parts of Earth, Carter explained. 地球上的某个地方大约每12到24个月发生一次日全食, but the area can only be viewed in totality by less than 1% of the Earth’s surface. That area varies depending on the distance of the moon from the Earth’s surface and the topography of the part of the Earth over which the shadow of the moon lands, Carter said.
据美国国家航空航天局称，即将到来的日全食将在美国可见.S. 沿着一条从德克萨斯州延伸到缅因州的100多英里的轨道. 这被称为日全食.
The exact length of a total solar eclipse depends on your position on Earth and the position of the sun and moon. For this eclipse, the sun will be completely covered in the path of totality for between 3 and 4.5 minutes. The place with the longest totality during the eclipse — 4 minutes and 28 seconds — will be in Torreón, Mexico. The complete eclipse, 从月球开始覆盖太阳到它完全超越太阳, will take around 2.5 hours, Carter said.
卡特说，在日全食的过程中，天空会变暗，就像黎明或黄昏一样. Animals and plants will react as if it were nearing nighttime — flowers will close and chickens may go to roost, she said, 气温将下降10度. During this time, viewers in the path of totality will have the rare opportunity to see the sun’s corona, or the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere that is usually hidden by the bright light of the sun’s surface.
在Selinsgrove，大约94%的太阳表面将被月球所掩盖. 日食的最佳观赏时间将从下午3点开始.m. 一直跑到下午3点45分.m., Carter said. These are the times between which the temperature can change, as well as shadows and color. 卡特说，光线的减少将像阴天一样. 天空可能会变成银色，或者可能是轻微的紫色.
2024 versus 2017
首先，今年的日食将被更多的人看到. According to NASA, the path of the upcoming eclipse is almost twice as wide as it was during the eclipse in 2017 because the moon is currently closer to the Earth in its orbit.
2017年，全食路径的宽度从62英里到71英里不等. During the April eclipse, the path over North America will range between 108 and 122 miles wide.
此外，即将到来的日食将比2017年持续更长时间. 七年前，最长的日全食时间是2分42秒. For the upcoming eclipse, as Carter noted, totality will last more than 4 minutes.
Finally, the upcoming eclipse is occurring during a time of heightened solar activity. In 2017, the sun was nearing solar minimum, when there are fewer giant eruptions from the sun. 但在2024年的日食期间, 太阳将处于或接近太阳活动极大期, 当太阳变得更加活跃. Viewers of the eclipse will have a better chance of seeing more of what the sun has to offer, like prominences, which appear as bright, 粉红色的卷发或发圈从太阳上脱落下来, coronal mass ejections, 哪一个是太阳物质的大喷发, or sunspots, 哪些是磁场活动的暗区.
卡特还是个孩子的时候就开始仰望天空，那时她的祖父还在, an amateur astronomer, 首先给她看了他的望远镜. 她对明星特别感兴趣, 她目前的研究描述了如何估计系外行星上的入射光.
“Events like this are a great opportunity to get people excited about solar science as we approach solar maximum,” she said.
The next total solar eclipse that will be seen from the contiguous United States will be on Aug. 23, 2044.
日食在宗教中的意义
从佛教和印度教到犹太教和各种本土宗教, ancient civilizations often viewed eclipses with fear and believed the events foretold of impending doom or displeasure from the gods. They believed the eclipse required special prayers, acts of service or even sacrifice in response.
“Astronomical phenomena like eclipses were widely believed in ancient China to indicate something about the disposition of heaven to the human government,” said Matt Duperon, associate professor of religious studies and coordinator of the Asian studies program at Susquehanna. “That is, they were often taken as signals from heaven that the current ruler had lost or gained favor with the cosmic forces that influenced human affairs from afar.”
The ancient Chinese, Duperon said, used the term rishi 日食 to refer to an eclipse. It remains in modern Chinese and refers to something consuming or devouring the sun.
“有很多关于天兽的民间传说, 通常是龙或狗, 日食时吞下太阳, so allegedly people would make a lot of noise to try and frighten it away and leave the sun alone,” Duperon said. “这一点很重要, however, 中国早期的天文学已经相当先进了, 所以有文化的人可能不相信这是真的.”
科学的进一步发展早就给了我们日食背后的真正原因, though many religions still view the astronomical events as a time of transformation and renewal and a reminder of the interconnectedness of life on Earth to the cosmos.
如何安全地观看日食
The main rule for viewing an eclipse is not to look at the sun directly without proper filters. 直视太阳, even for a few seconds, 会导致永久或长期的视网膜灼伤吗. 以下是卡特关于安全观看四月日食的建议.
Eclipse glasses. Eclipse glasses or viewers work by using filters to dampen the intensity of the sun’s light to at least 1,比普通太阳镜暗1000倍. 首先，去当地的图书馆或博物馆看看有没有可用的. 如果没有，你可以从网上购买，从零售商推荐 美国天文学会. Eclipse眼镜或查看器应该声明产品符合ISO 12312标准.2 or 12312.2-2015国际标准. AAS也可以告诉你是否你的观众 makes the grade.
“I do not recommend using retailers not listed on the site due to the danger of counterfeit equipment,” Carter said.
Projection. 如果你没有日食观测眼镜, Carter recommends using projection by casting an image of the sun onto a screen or the ground. 她最喜欢的工具叫做盒子针孔投影仪. 你可以学习如何建立你自己的 here.
有关如何安全观看日食的更多信息，请访问 AAS.