For years, small groups of astronomy enthusiasts have traveled the globe chasing the rare solar eclipse. They have embarked on\u00a0cruises\u00a0to the middle of the ocean, taken\u00a0flights\u00a0into the eclipse\u2019s path and even traveled to\u00a0Antarctica. In August 2017, millions across the US witnessed a\u00a0total solar eclipse\u00a0visible from Oregon to South Carolina, with a partial eclipse visible to the rest of the continental US. <\/p>\n
The interest in astronomical events that this eclipse sparked will likely return with\u00a0two eclipses visible in the US\u00a0during the next year \u2013 the annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023, and the total eclipse on April 8, 2024. But astro-tourism \u2013 traveling to national parks, observatories or other natural, dark-sky locations to view astronomical events \u2013 isn\u2019t limited just to chasing eclipses. <\/p>\n
According to a recent study,\u00a080% of Americans\u00a0and\u00a0one-third of the planet\u2019s population\u00a0can no longer see the Milky Way from their homes\u00a0because of light pollution. As a consequence, most people have to travel to witness meteor showers and other common astronomical events. <\/p>\n
I am a space scientist\u00a0with a passion for teaching physics and astronomy and photographing the night sky. Every summer I spend several nights backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, where the skies are sufficiently dark to allow the Milky Way to be seen with the naked eye. My son and I also like to take road trips \u2013 often along US 395, the Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway \u2013 that coincide with eclipses and meteor showers. <\/p>\n
There are two types of eclipses.\u00a0Lunar eclipses\u00a0occur when the full moon passes through Earth\u2019s shadow.\u00a0Solar eclipses\u00a0occur when the new moon briefly blocks the Sun. <\/p>\n
There are three types of solar eclipses. During a total eclipse, the Moon completely covers the Sun, with totality, or the time during which the Sun is completely eclipsed, lasting as long as seven minutes. During totality, those in the path of the eclipse will see the Sun\u2019s\u00a0corona, or its outer atmosphere, behind the Moon\u2019s silhouette. <\/p>\n
The Moon\u2019s orbit around the Earth is an ellipse, so the Moon can appear to be 15% smaller when it\u2019s at its farthest point from Earth, its apogee, compared with its size when it is at its closest point to Earth, its perigee. An\u00a0annular eclipse\u00a0occurs when the Moon doesn\u2019t cover the entire disk of the Sun, leaving a ring of sunlight around the Moon. <\/p>\n
Finally, a\u00a0partial eclipse\u00a0occurs when the Moon blocks only a part of the Sun\u2019s disk, as the name implies. <\/p>\n
Meteor showers are a far more common astronomical event than eclipses, and they are visible from any dark-sky location on Earth. Meteor showers occur when Earth\u2019s orbit around the Sun takes it through the dust\u00a0left behind by a comet. The Earth sweeps up the dust like a car speeding through a cloud of insects on the highway. <\/p>\n
Meteor showers are named for the constellations from which the meteors\u00a0seem to emanate, though it\u2019s not necessary to stare in that direction to see meteors. The most prominent meteor showers, occurring on approximately the same dates every year, are the\u00a0Perseids, named for the constellation Perseus and peaking on the night of August 12-13; the\u00a0Geminids, named for the constellation Gemini, on December 14-15; and the\u00a0Lyrids, named for the constellation Lyra, on April 21-22. The night sky will be mostly\u00a0moonless\u00a0for the first two this year, but a nearly full moon will make the Lyrid shower of 2024 difficult to see. <\/p>\n
One of the most important factors to consider when planning an outing to stargaze or to watch a meteor shower is the phase of the Moon. The full moon rises at about 6 p.m. and sets at 6 a.m., making stargazing all but impossible because of its brightness. For ideal stargazing conditions, the Moon should be below the horizon, and the best viewing conditions are during new moon. You can use a\u00a0moonrise\/moonset calculator\u00a0to determine the phase of the Moon and its rise and set times for any location on Earth. <\/p>\n
Another important factor is weather. Amateur astronomers always joke that the sky is cloudy during the most interesting astronomical events. For example, most major cities in the US that are in the path of the April 2024 eclipse have had cloudy skies on April 8\u00a060% of the time\u00a0since the year 2000. <\/p>\n
Most Americans live in heavily light-polluted areas. A light pollution map such as\u00a0lightpollutionmap.info\u00a0can help identify the nearest dark-sky location, which, in my case, is hours away. These maps often use the\u00a0Bortle dark-sky scale, which reports 1 for extremely dark skies to 9 for highly light-polluted city centers. <\/p>\n
Though you may still see the brightest meteors from city suburbs, the darker your sky, the more meteors you\u2019ll see. In general, expect to see\u00a0fewer than 25 meteors per hour. To see the complex structure of the Milky Way with the naked eye, look for a location with a Bortle index of 3 or below. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to arrive at your chosen site early, preferably during daylight hours. Stumbling around in the dark at an unfamiliar site is a recipe for disaster and may also disturb others who are already at the site. Arriving early also gives time for your eyes to adapt to the dark as night falls, as it typically takes\u00a030 minutes\u00a0or even longer for your eyes to reach their full dark-adapted potential. <\/p>\n
Make sure to carry a headlamp or flashlight that has a red light setting, as red light\u00a0doesn\u2019t ruin night vision. Avoid using your phone, as even a glance at the screen can ruin your eyes\u2019 dark adaptation. If you\u2019re using a sky-viewing app, switch the app to night mode. <\/p>\n
Plan ahead if you\u2019re thinking of traveling to view one of the eclipses visible in the US next year. If you\u2019re in the\u00a0path of the eclipse, stay put! If you\u2019re traveling, staying at the same location overnight before and after the eclipse can help avoid the hours-long\u00a0traffic jams\u00a0experienced by eclipse watchers in 2017. <\/p>\n
Also, you should never look at the Sun directly with the naked eye,\u00a0even during a total eclipse. You\u2019ll need a pair of inexpensive\u00a0eclipse glasses\u00a0to watch and fully enjoy the eclipse, but get yours early, as many stores\u00a0ran out of glasses\u00a0during the 2017 eclipse. <\/p>\n
No matter where you travel during the next year, don\u2019t forget to look up at night and marvel at the beauty of the night sky away from city lights. <\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: <\/p>\n\n
For years, small groups of astronomy enthusiasts have traveled the globe chasing the rare solar eclipse. They have embarked on\u00a0cruises\u00a0to the middle of the ocean, taken\u00a0flights\u00a0into the eclipse\u2019s path and even traveled to\u00a0Antarctica. In August 2017, millions across the US witnessed a\u00a0total solar eclipse\u00a0visible from Oregon to South Carolina, with a partial eclipse visible to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}