“May The Shadow Of The Moon Fall On A World Of Peace”

Solar eclipse will be about 80 percent in South Alabama
Aug. 21 from noon ‘til 3 p.m. with deepest eclipse at 1:30 p.m.

Many Alabama skywatchers will be heading towards Tennessee and North Carolina to watch the total phase of the August 21 Great American Eclipse. For people throughout the state can see partial eclipses from their homes throughout Alabama. For most of Alabama, the eclipse will last from about noon to 3 p.m., with the deepest eclipse around 1:30 p.m. Maximum coverage of the Sun by area ranges from 80% near Mobile to 98% in the northeast corner of Alabama.
The moon will completely cover the sun within a 70-mile wide path from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passed between the sun and the Earth and blocks all or part of the sun for up to three hours. The longest period when the moon will completely block the sun from any given location along the path will be about 2 minutes, 40 seconds on Aug. 21, with the longest duration of darkness expected to be in Carbondale, Illinois.
Birds stop singing, and nocturnal animals get briefly confused during eclipse, which will make the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo an especially popular viewing spot here in South Baldwin County.
Paul Loeffler of Fairhope is leading a group of kayakers on Mobile Bay who plan to watch the eclipse from Mobile Bay (with Nasa approved glasses) in front of the Fairhope Pier.
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos Double A baseball team will host an eclipse viewing party at its downtown stadium, with free solar eclipse glasses and moon pies available to visitors on a first come basis. Gates will open at noon for that free event.
Astronomers at the University of Alabama have collected the following information on this eclipse and how to view its partial phases safely.
The major ways of viewing a partial solar eclipse safely are pinhole projection, safe solar filters, and projection from a telescope or binoculars.
In pinhole projection, sunlight passing through a small hole makes a small image of the Sun on whatever material is used for a screen, which gets larger the farther away the screen is. In much of Alabama, there are trees with enough leaves to form natural pinholes, with the advantage that they are high off the ground.
Most telescopes and binoculars can be focused to project a sharp image of the Sun on a sheet behind the eyepieces. Be careful not to allow anyone to put their head behind the eyepiece in this case to avoid possible eye damage. Even a finger casually moved close behind the eyepiece can sustain a burn.
Wal-Mart and other retailers are selling safe solar filters as thin films in cardboard or plastic mounts.
The next similar eclipse will be on April 8 of 2024. Its path of totality crosses Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and then on to the northeast. Maximum solar coverage in Alabama for that eclipse will be between 73% and 93%. The total solar eclipse of August 12, 2045 will encompass Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and Dothan.
by the appearance of darkness.
August 21 will mark the first total eclipse in the United States since 1979. And it’s been even longer since the last total solar eclipse to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic: That occurred June 8, 1918, when an eclipse crossed from Washington to Florida.
Pictured: NASA’s Eclipse event map from recreation.guv.
Source: University of Alabama Physics & Astronomy Dept.