I remember the first mention of Total Solar Eclipse by my mom when I was a kid as it is significantly associated with my birth. She saw it when she was
a pregnant with me. People warned her not to see and not to go out and gave her
a handful of suggestions designed for the pregnant woman. But being an educated woman, she went ahead and saw the rare
astronomical phenomenon keeping all myths aside. Kudos to her bravery to beat
the odds. It gave me confidence that the myths around eclipse are mere myths in
fact.
I remember her experience as 'sudden darkness during day for few
minutes and birds started chirping'. I grew up imagining that scene as she used
to tell the same many times during every partial eclipse. Probably that is an
experience worth recollecting, an experience for the life time. However, that
did not fascinate me much to know more about Total eclipse and its specialty.
Today my friend shared a few photographs of the total solar
eclipse which were clicked by her friend who flew to Idaho, US from UK to experience
it. There begun my introspection on 'whether it is worth flying a long way for
an eclipse that lasts for couple of minutes in totality?' Bingo!!! My fascination sprouted and I started my research to find
out what is so special about it.
In the process of my exploration, I did not really get fascinated with
scientific terms like umbra, penumbra, corona, orbits etc. But the simple and
special momentary changes that could redefine the science that are happening
around us which we may fail to observe.
Here are the things that are making me awe and wait for the next
eclipse.
Extreme Rarity: Total solar eclipses are very rare events. Although they
occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, it is estimated that they
recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years, on average.
The next total solar eclipse to be seen in India is in March
20,2034 while there is one annual solar eclipse on Dec 20, 2019. Next nearest
total solar eclipse to happen in 2019. It is going to be of 1.011 magnitude
maximum and can be seen from some parts of South America.
Gravity Anomalies: First sign of gravity fluctuations during total solar
eclipse were noted from the observation of an erratic movement of swinging
pendulum in 1954. Later much research conducted and still ongoing by setting up
highly sensitive gravitometers on the eclipse path, sending high altitude
balloons etc.
Spring tides: The
most drastic tides, called spring tides, occur when the Earth, moon, and sun
are aligned. The moon
is the predominant factor in determining the Earth's tides, as its proximity to
Earth exerts greater immediate gravitational shifts. During total solar
eclipse, the moon is in closer proximity to earth hence the tides during this
time are enormous. During yesterday’s total solar eclipse, as the tides pushed
unusually high a net holding 305,000 Atlantic Salmon was imploded and intruded
in home waters of native Washington Pacific salmon.
Behavioral changes in animals and Birds: This sounded most interesting to me. Various observations
by citizen scientists are: A pod of Hippos woke up from their nap and started
their evening trek when the totality struck during an eclipse. Crickets
became excessively chirpy, mosquitoes step up their activity, bees went silent,
chickens roosted, nocturnal birds woke up thinking night has set in. How
amazing!!!
Total eclipses won’t be there forever: Because of the moon’s slowly increasing orbit (@1.5
inches per year approximately), moon is moving away from Earth and will no
longer be big enough to entirely cover the sun. Hence there will be no more
total solar eclipses in about 600 million years but annular and partial
eclipses still exist. The same theory implies to concept of totality
getting shorter year by year.
Temperature and Wind changes: Temperatures and wind speeds often drop in the path of
totality. Temperatures should drop 5 to 15 degrees in the path of totality
under clear skies. Higher humidity values tend to keep the temperature more
steady than lower humidity values. According to some study, Winds fell by just
over 2 mph on average and changed direction by about 20 degrees. This effect
lasts only minutes during the eclipse, and winds return to normal as soon as
the sun begins to shine.
Shadow bands: Shadow
bands are thin wavy lines of alternating light and dark that can be seen moving
and undulating in parallel on plain-coloured surfaces immediately before and
after a total solar eclipse. Examples: ripples of sunshine at the bottom of a
swimming pool, thin and wavy lines on white/plain-coloured cars
Life is quite unpredictable, so want to experience/feel the
earliest next occurrence in 2019 as I can’t seem to wait till 2034 in India and contribute to the ongoing research. Possible disappointment could
be blockage by clouds but flying/trekking to higher altitudes can be an
option. But let us see what technology can unfold for us in future to
experience it in a better way!!
