Wednesday October 2, 2024 a “ring of fire” It will be visible in southern Chile, Patagonia and Easter Island: it will be aannular solar eclipsethe last solar eclipse of 2024, which will begin at 12:42 local time (17:42 Italian time) and will have a maximum at 3.45pm local time (8.45pm Italian time). The annular eclipse is a particular astronomical spectacle that occurs, as the name suggests, when the disk of the Moon aligns perfectly with that of the Sun but does not cover it completely because it is particularly far from the Earth, thus leaving a visible light “ring” on the edge of the solar disk. In this case, the solar disk will be covered up to a maximum of 93% within the annular path, between 265 km and 331 km wide, which begins in the Pacific Ocean and ends in Antarctica. The eclipse will appear partial in other parts of Argentina and Chile, as well as in several other countries including Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. The eclipse on October 2 will be notable for its duration of the annularity phasewhich will be of good 7 minutes and 25 seconds. While not visible from Italycan be followed in live streaming dedicated like that of the reference portal Time and Date.
What is an annular solar eclipse and when does it happen?
The eclipse occur when a celestial body comes between a light source and an observer. In the case of solar eclipses, the light source is the Sun itself and the celestial body that comes between is the Moon which casts a shadow on a part of our planet. All solar eclipses occur in the phase of New moonsince it is at that time that the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. Since thelunar orbit is inclinedsolar eclipses they don’t happen every monthbut only when the Moon crosses the plane in which the Earth’s orbit lies.
A particular case of solar eclipse is that annular. Since the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is ellipticalthe eclipse can occur at a time in the lunar orbit when it is farthest from Earthfor example atapogee. In this case the angular dimension in the sky of the Moon it’s smaller than that of the Sun. Consequently, it is unable to obscure the solar disk entirely, but leaves a small uncovered portiona sort of “ring” of fire from which the term “annular eclipse” derives.
Due to the curvature of the Earth, thecast shadow from the Moon can result more or less circular or elongated depending on the relative direction of the Sun, Moon and the specific place on the Earth’s surface where the lunar shadow is cast. Experienced eclipse hunters often like to observe along the edge of the shadow path, since in that case a precise ring is not created, but one of the edges is completely obscured. This gives rise to the so-called Baily’s grainsoptical-light effects similar to pearls that occur during a solar eclipse in the contact of the solar corona near the lunar limb.
When and where to see the annular eclipse: the times
The solar eclipse will begin on October 2nd at 5:42pm Italian time. The annularity phasewhen the Moon will begin to transform the Sun into a dazzling “ring of fire”, will instead begin only an hour later, around 18:50 Italian timereaching his maximum at 8.45pm. The point of maximum eclipse is defined as the instant in which the axis of the Moon’s shadow cone passes as close as possible in projection to the center of the Earth. On October 2, 2024, the eclipse will have a magnitude equal to 0.9326that is, approximately the 93% of the Sun will be blocked by the Moon. The duration of the annular phase of the eclipse varies from place to place, reaching a maximum of 7 minutes and 25 seconds.
The ring road passes through the Pacific Ocean, southern Chile and southern Argentina (Patagonia), including the iconic Easter Islandcasting a shadow on the Earth’s surface that has a variable extension from 265 to 331 kmThe number of people affected is far smaller than that of this year’s North American eclipse, in fact only 175,000 people live within the annularity path. Regions adjacent to the annularity path will instead experience a partial solar eclipse where the moon appears to take a “bite” from the Sun. This includes both adjacent regions of Chile and Argentina, as well as parts of Brazil and Uruguay, thus increasing the number of people affected by several million.
Why It Will Be a Special Eclipse: Duration and Upcoming Annular Eclipses
There are three main reasons why this annular eclipse is special, beyond the obvious beauty of the celestial event itself. The first is that the the duration of the eclipse is particularly highThe darkened Sun’s ring of fire could last up to 7 minutes and 25 seconds at some points along the way, about 3 minutes longer than the great North American eclipse of April this year.
The second reason is that the next annular eclipse that will occur in inhabited places is in 2027, since the one in 2026 occurs in Antarctica. next annular eclipses near us will instead be the January 26, 2028 with Portugal, Morocco and Spain interested, and the June 1, 2030with Algeria, Tunisia, Greece, Türkiye involved.
The third reason is that the path of the eclipse covers Easter Island, thus providing one of the most suggestive “locations” in the world to adorn the celestial spectacle.
The next solar eclipses visible also from Italy
As for solar eclipses in general, however, for the next eclipses visible from Italy we will have to wait until March 29, 2025 (partial eclipse visible mainly in the Centre-North, in particular Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta), the August 12, 2026 (it will be partial in Italy but total in Spain, the first total eclipse in Europe after the 1999 eclipse) and the August 2, 2027 (almost total in Sicily and total in the territorial waters of Lampedusa).
