August 1, 2008 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon and the Earth precisely align with each other during a particular new moon. Not all new moons does an eclipse occur since the tilt of the moon's orbit and the sun and Earth's rotation of their own axis do not offer such a sychronistic alignment. It is truly a rarity that they can come together so precisely. With a solar eclipse the moon's orbit traversed inbetween the sun and the Earth and the moon inevitabley blocks out a portion of the sun's light for a duration of time, historically up to 7 minutes has been recorded.

There are three types of eclipses-partial, annular and total. It depends where one is situated on the Earth's surface as to whether or not the eclipse can be observed. Only those that are within the direct path of the eclipse can witness it. Generally there may be between two to five eclipes annually but they are usually partial eclipses. Eclipses have been recorded since 3000 BCE and in particular with the Mayans.

It is important to explain the differences between the eclipses:

When one talks eclipse we talk about the shadow not the light emittence. The different types of shadows allows us to understand the eclipse dimensional effect. The Umbra, Penubra, and Anumbra are the names given to the three distinct parts of a shadow. These names are usually used when referring to the shadows cast by celestial bodies.

The umbra in latin =shadow and is the darkest part of a shadow. From within the umbra the sourse of light is completely concealed. For the observer in a total eclipse this is the shadow in which they are within. A person who experiences a total eclipse will be in total darkness for the entire duration of the eclipse. All light will be eliminated. The sun's warm would not be felt, meaning it will begin to get cold. This is the phenomenal experience of a total eclipse.

Penubra in Latin = almost nearly a shadow, is the region in which only a portion of the occulting body is obscuring the light source. This would be considered a partial eclipse. You may have seen pictures of partial eclipses where all the sky is darkened but on the side of the darkened moon is a blast of light from the sun. The observer would be on the outskirts of the shadow.

The anumbra is the region where the occulting body (in this case is the moon) appears entirely contained within the disc of the light source. What is usually observed is a black disc with the outer edges of light of the sun making a halo effect on the darkened moon. Usually the situation of the observer is farther back from the light source in the occulting path. If the observer could move closer to the light source they may experience the umbra effect. The anumbra experience is the annular eclipse.

Our recent August 1, 2008 eclipse had a magnitude of 1.039 that was visible within a very narrow corridor as it traversed upon the earth. It traveled through northern Canada (Nunavut), the middle of Russia, western Mongolia, India and China. This eclipse belongs to the midnight sun eclipses visible from regions experiencing midnight sun.

The midnight sun is a phenomenon occuring in latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle and south and nearby to the north of the north of the Arctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours, mostly north of the Arctic circle and south of the Antartic Circle. There are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, so the countries and territories whose populations experience it are limited to the ones crossed by the Arctic Circle, i.e. Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russian and the extremities of Iceland.

Due to refraction, the midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly below the polar circle, though not exceeding one degree (depending on local conditions). For example, it is possible to experience the midnight sun in Iceland, even though most of it is slightly south of the Arctic Circle. Even the northern extremities of Scotland (at these places on similar latitudes) experience a permanent 'dusk' or glare in the northern skies at these times. I have to say in visiting north of Scotland and in Findhorn I was a witness to this fact.

The path of the Moon's deep umbral shadow thus began in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China. A partial eclipse was visible along the much broader path of the moon's paler penumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America and covered most of Europe and Asia.

In Siberia, the total eclipse zone passed through populated places, including the 'capital of Siberia' Novosibirsk, and the cities of Nizhnevartovsk,
Barnaul, Biysk. The greatest eclipse duration reached near the town of Nadym in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Northern Siberia.

Unfortunately for us here in Hawaii we were not able to view the eclipse. We will next year on July 22, 2009 so will East Asia in the penumbra shadow. India, Nepal, China and Central Pacific will experience the total eclipse.

I have never experienced an eclipse though I participated in an out door ceremony during the August 11, 1998 total solar eclipse in the hills of northern CA. I do believe that was the beginning of a major change in my life. This year we visited my good friend Tim and a visitng friend and Bonnie and discussed the eclipse that evening. I found a wonderful video on the 1st through the internet taken by a Russian corresponded reporter for CNN in Russia during the eclipse. It is phenomenal. It is almost like you are there. Even though I could not understand many of the words, ( I did take Russian in my early days of college) the emotions are universal and there are a few 'Oh my God's' thrown in the excited exclaimations. The phenomena of the eclipse is spell binding. I can truly imagine how transformational it must be to be in the presence of such a natural 'miracle'. I have no doubt one will not walk away unchanged.

Enjoy...Eclipse in Russia, not umbra an annular.

I did want to add a note that the planet will be experiencing a partial eclipse on the 16th of this month as well. It is a partial eclipse. There will not be a total eclipse until Winter Solstice 2010. The difference with the lunar eclipse is that the planets will align themselves so the the Earth will come between the sun and the moon and the shadow of the earth is cast upon the moon. There will be not darkness that over coming us for a lunar eclipse happens on a full moon at night and with a total lunar eclipse the moon will turn red with the sun's light intermingled by atmospheric particles within the shadow. It is quite amazing as well.The partial lunar eclipseof August 16 2008 will be visible over most of Asia, Australasia, Europe, Africa, and south America. Although only a partial eclipse, this eclipse should be quite significant, as most of the Moon will pass inside the Earth's umbral shadow at maximum eclipse -- the umbral magnitude is 0.812. So those that can witness this even may see the red image since the Earth's shadow on the moon will be completely encased within the orb of the moon. There will be glow of the moon's light around the edges (towards the end of the eclipse). Because of this effect it is being called the Hermit Eclipse in the sign of Aquarius 24 degrees. I don't put too much emphasis on partial eclipses. Those that may be sensitive will be the same as the solar since Aquarius is in the fixed sign group as well as Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio. For us all lets try not to get too much in the way of intuition and inner guidence.