The last solar eclipse of the year is this weekend - here's how to watch
 
Business Insider
By Jessica Orwig
September 10, 2015 1:40 PM
Solar Eclipse(REUTERS/Abdel-Halim Shahaby)
This is a great month for eclipses and kicking it off right is the partial
solar eclipse happening this Sunday, Sep. 13.
 
It's the last solar eclipse of the year, and the next won't come around until
March 9, 2016.
 
Unfortunately, most of us are not in the right spot to see the eclipse, which
will take place over the southern tip of Africa, most of Madagascar, and parts
of Antarctica.
 
During a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth, casting its
shadow over our planet's surface, like in the GIF below.
 
That shadow is what we see as the black menace devouring the sun in our night
sky. But the moon's shadow is not large enough to cover all of Earth, which is
why during each solar eclipse there are only certain parts of the world that
will see the event.
 
The online observatory, Slooh, is hosting a live broadcast - starting at 12:30
am ET on Sep. 13 - of the event online, for those of us who still want to
check out the last solar eclipse of the year, but don't want to travel to the
bottom half of the world. (You must register to become a Slooh member in order
to access the broadcast.)
Check out the map below, courtesy of timeanddate.com, to see where on Earth
this weekend's partial solar eclipse will take place:
 
The reason for this has to do with how the sun, moon, and Earth are aligned in
space at the time of the event.
 
During a total solar eclipse, the moon must pass directly between the sun and
Earth in such a way that you could draw a straight line connecting each of the
three celestial objects' centers. This alignment is rare, and we usually only
have one total solar eclipse a year.
 
It's more common to have a slight misalignment where the moon still passes
between the sun and Earth, but it's slightly off center, and so all of its
shadow does not cast over Earth. The result is that we only see part of the
sun disappear, like what we will see this Sunday.
 
And don't miss the second eclipse happening at the end of this month on Sep.
27. A spectacular lunar eclipse will take place around the same time as a
supermoon. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.
 
Now check out this amazing video by retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak,
of a partial solar eclipse last year that will look similar to this Sunday's
event.
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

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