An annular solar eclipse will occur on October 14, 2023. The path of the eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America, and will be visible for millions of people in the Western Hemisphere.
In the United States, the eclipse will be visible from Oregon to Texas. The maximum eclipse will occur in Oregon at 9:13 a.m. PDT, when the Moon will cover 99.4% of the Sun. The annular phase of the eclipse will last for 4 minutes and 21 seconds.
The path of the eclipse will then cross Mexico and Central America, passing over Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The eclipse will then cross into South America in Colombia, and will pass over Northern Brazil before ending at sunset in the Atlantic Ocean.
Annular solar eclipses occur when the Moon is at apogee, its farthest point from Earth. This means that the Moon’s apparent size is smaller than the Sun’s, so the Sun does not completely disappear during the eclipse. Instead, a ring of sunlight remains visible around the Moon.
This annular eclipse will be the second of three notable solar eclipses viewable from the USA in the 2020s. It follows the ‘Great American’ total eclipse of August 2017, and comes six months before the Mexico-US-Canada total eclipse of April 2024.
If you are lucky enough to be in the path of this eclipse, be sure to take safety precautions. Never look directly at the Sun during an eclipse, even if it is partially obscured. Instead, use special solar viewing glasses or a solar filter to safely view the eclipse.
You can also watch the eclipse online or on television. There will be many live broadcasts of the eclipse, so you can enjoy the spectacle from the comfort of your own home.
This is an amazing opportunity to see a rare astronomical event. So mark your calendars and plan to witness the annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023.
Additional Resources:
NASA’s Solar Eclipse Page: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/
Timeanddate’s Eclipse Page: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/
Great American Eclipse: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/