Partial Solar Eclipse Today
Residents in the Mother Lode will see a partial blocking of the sun today. On Thursday Oct 23rd the partial solar eclipse in our area will start at 1:52pm and go till 4:30pm. The maximum point of the partial solar eclipse will be at 3:15pm. The weather forecast indicates some clouds, but it may be mostly sunny.
On April 20th there was an annular eclipse seen by millions of people across Asia and the western United States. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far from the Earth to fully block the sun as in a total solar eclipse. Today the areas that will see the largest part of the Moon blocking the Sun will be at sunset from the Indiana-Ohio border down to the Alabama-Georgia border. Nasa’s map of the path of this partial solar eclipse is here.
Viewing partial eclipses is never safe to watch with the naked eye. Failure to use appropriate filtration may result in permanent eye damage or blindness. Projected images of the Sun may be seen on the ground in the shadow cast from small openings created by interlacing fingers, or in the dappled sunlight beneath a leafy tree. Further safety and sunlight filtering information is on Nasa’s website.
