A 12% eclipsed Sun as seen from Cardiff, Wales on October 25, 2022. Imaged with a Vanois Vespera … [+]
Did you see the Moon take a chunk out of the Sun today? Across Eurasia today it was possible to see as much as 82% of the Sun being eclipsed by a New Moon in the second partial solar eclipse of 2022.
Countries in north-western Europe battled clouds to see a relatively small percentage of the Sun blocked by the Moon, with London experiencing a 15% eclipse, Berlin a 32% eclipse and Helsinki in Finland 54%.
Although it didn’t get to see this one, North America will have several spectacular solar eclipse in the coming years.
During the event sunspots were visible on the face of the Sun. A sunspot is an area of intense magnetic activity on the surface of the Sun. It appears as a dark area on the solar disk.
Sunspots were visible on the surface of our star during the partial solar eclipse on October 25, … [+]
However, it was Siberia in Russia that saw maximum eclipse with Nizhnevartovsk seeing 82% of the Sun eclipsed by the Moon.
A partial solar eclipse is pictured in Malmoe, on October 25, 2022. – Sweden OUT (Photo by Johan … [+]
Observers had to use solar eclipse safety glasses at all times to protect their eyes. Such a precaution is extremely important during partial solar eclipses. The only time this doesn’t apply is during the short totality during a total solar eclipse when the Sun is completely blocked by the moon—but that is not what was happening today.
A view of partial solar eclipse in Ankara, Turkiye on October 25, 2022. (Photo by Rasit … [+]
The next solar eclipse to occur anywhere in the world will be a total solar eclipse on April 20, 2023. The path of totality for that event begins in the Indian Ocean and ends in the Pacific Ocean, crossing Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia as well as Timor Leste and West Papua.
A view of partial solar eclipse over a minaret in Ankara, Turkiye on October 25, 2022. (Photo by Ali … [+]
The next eclipse to occur is a total lunar eclipse, which will be visible very shortly in North America. On November 8, 2022, the full “Beaver Moon—colloquially called a “Blood Moon”—will drift into Earth’s mighty shadow in space.
A partial solar eclipse as seen from Bucharest on October 25, 2022. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / … [+]
As it does so, the only light that reaches the lunar surface will have first been filtered by the Earth’s atmosphere. The effect is that the lunar surface will look a reddish, orangey, copper color during a totality that will last a whopping 86 minutes.
This picture taken on October 25, 2022 shows the moon partially obscuring the sun disk during a … [+]
Neither solar nor lunar eclipses occur can every month because the Moon’s orbit of Earth is tilted by 5º to the ecliptic—the apparent path of the Sun through our daytime sky and the plane of Earth’s orbit of the Sun. So usually the New Moon is above or below the Sun and the full Moon is above or below Earth’s shadow.
This picture taken on October 25, 2022 shows a view of the moon partially obscuring the sun disk, … [+]
However, the Moon’s orbital path does intersect the ecliptic twice each month at positions called nodes. It’s when the Moon reaches those notes at either a full Moon or a New Moon that an eclipse occurs, and sets off a chain of events that sees the Moon at the corresponding node two weeks later to cause the corresponding type of the eclipse.
A 12% partial solar eclipse as seen from Cardiff, Wales on October 25, 2022. Image taken using a … [+]
Eclipses typically come in twos or threes. That’s because every 173 days, for between 31 and 37 days, the Moon is lined-up perfectly to intersect the ecliptic. The result is a brief period during which two—and occasionally three—solar and lunar eclipses can occur back-to-back.
Disclaimer: I am the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
