Total solar eclipse today

March 8, 2016 • 3:06 pm

Starting at 6 p.m. EST (US), there will be a total solar eclipse broadcast live from Indonesia. Here’s the livestream:

So, about two hours from now, you might want to click on the video above and have a look.

Here are Puffho’s notes:

The eclipse begins over Indonesia (where Slooh is broadcasting from) and will travel 8,800 miles northeast over Borneo, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Ocean. At its widest point, the shadow of the eclipse will measure 97 miles across.

“The cool thing for those who are going to be in the path of totality is that they are going to be able to see the outer atmosphere of the sun called the corona,” C. Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist from NASA, told The New York Times. “This is only visible from the ground during a total solar eclipse.”

The spectacle will last for three hours, and at each location the eclipse will block out the sun’s light for anywhere between 90 seconds to 4 minutes.

Here’s an animation of the path, showing the area of totality:

Need I remind readers in any part of the path not to look directly at the sun without some kind of filter?

8 thoughts on “Total solar eclipse today

    1. Nthing that.

      It is very difficult to explain to people exactly how profound an experience it is to see a total solar eclipse. DO NOT MISS IT!

      PS. It is perfectly safe to look at totality with the naked eye – it is the partial eclipse you have to be careful of.

  1. I read somewhere that this is the only total solar eclipse this year. I have never seen a total eclipse, but many years ago I did see a beautiful annular eclipse of the sun during sunset while sitting on a beach in San Diego.

  2. So far I’ve read the first 175 pages of The Scientists by astrophysicist John Gribbin. It’s a history of the emergence of the scientific method starting with the Renaissance. It starts with Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler and moves on from there. Gribbin writes so well… quite readable for the layperson. It’s also quite inspiring.

  3. On March 7th, 1970, a total eclipse was visible from Norfolk, Virginia, it was also my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I always told her that I had arranged it just for her birthday. She doesn’t believe me anymore.

  4. According to the BBC, “across the island…people prayed in mosques, churches and temples”. The report didn’t say what they were praying for.

    Seems like an eclipse is wasted on some people.

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