Madrid – A total Luna eclipse, visible in much of the world, opens tomorrow a series of astronomical events that will happen throughout the month of March and that will culminate with a partial sun eclipse next day 29 and with a waterfall historical eclipses Total that will happen over the next few years.
To the possibility of contemplating at dusk, apparently aligned, up to four planets (Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury), something completely unusual, this month is added the total eclipse of tomorrow’s moon, the partial eclipse of Sun of 29; and the spring equinox next day 20.
The total Eclipse of the moon will not be the only one that occurs this year, since the same astronomical event – which occurs when the sun, the earth and the moon are aligned and the earth projects its shadow on the satellite – will be repeated on September 7.
Every year there are between four and seven eclipses, including those of Sol and Luna, according to data from the Spanish Astronomical Observatory (OAN), which has indicated that they are normally accompanied since one produces half a polka dation – the time interval between two identical phases of the moon – after the other, so that every year there are at least two solar and two moles.
Tomorrow you can see the first of the moon eclipses this year, and in this case it will be total and visible in much of the world, and where the clear skies are accompanied by the observation of this astronomical phenomenon can be done with the naked eye without involving any risk and without the need of any special instrumentation.
The lunar eclipse will be visible in one of its phases throughout Europe, in large part of Africa, in North America, Sudamerica, Antarctica and East Asia and Oceania, although the phase observation is totally restricted to the west of Europe, to Western Africa, the entire American continent and the Antarctica, according to the data collected in the national astronomical observatory.
A red moon
During the eclipse of tomorrow the moon will also be dyed a reddish orange for the same reasons that explain why the sky of the earth looks blue or the sunsets in the orange earth, according to NASA’s information, which has indicated that sunlight looks white but in reality it contains an rainbow of components and the different colors of light have different physical properties.
NASA’s explanations reveal that during a lunar eclipse, the moon looks red or orange because all sunlight that is not blocked by the earth is filtered by a thick portion of the Earth’s atmosphere on its path to the lunar surface; “It is as if all the dawns and sunsets of the world are screened on the moon,” said the US agency.
The astronomical event carousel of the month of March (Total Luna Eclipse tomorrow and partial Sun on 29) will also continue throughout the year, since on September 7 a total moon eclipse will be repeated that will be visible again in much of the world and on September 21 a partial sun.
The National Astronomical Observatory has indicated that it is common to observe a partial eclipse of the sun from one place approximately every two years, but not so much the total eclipses (when the moon completely blocks the vision of the star) or the annular ones (the moon is located at a point of its orbit far away from the earth and its shadow does not cover the entire sun but lets see a bright ring around it).
Sun Eclipses Carousel
In Spain, for example, the last visible annular eclipse happened in 2005 and the last total eclipse dates back to 1959 (and only from the Canary Islands); In the Peninsula, a total sun eclipse has not been seen since 1912, according to the observatory data, which has stressed that this “drought” of eclipses will end, because during the next three years up to three eclipses visible from some point of the Spanish geography are going to be chained.
The “carousel” of Solar Eclipses will continue over the next three years, when two totals will be recorded (on August 12, 2026 and August 2, 2027) and one annular (on January 26, 2028) that will be visible in much of the world.
Upon happening – the two total eclipses – in summer, the chances of having a clear sky are high, the national astronomical observatory has advanced, but unlike those of the moon, to contemplate those of Sun it is necessary to adopt special precautions and never look directly to the naked sight or with sunglasses since it entails many risks for sight.
Sun eclipses are especially interesting for science, since they are exceptional occasions during which researchers can observe a part of the solar atmosphere -known as the crown -, which is too dim to be examined, except when the bright light of the sun is blocked by one of these events.
To save that obstacle from the earth, scientists use the “coronographers” to artificially block the sunlight, simulating a total eclipse, but NASA has detailed that even with these instruments it is very difficult to study the part of the crown closer to the star, where many of the most important processes occur and that affect humans already to humans and terrestrial technologies.