Category: - Ascension Now

"HORNS OF FIRE" SOLAR ECLIPSE:

29/3/2025

When the sun rose over Maine this morning, something was missing--about 85% of the sun. A solar eclipse was underway. "We witnessed an amazing 'horns of fire' eclipse," reports Fabrizio Melandri, who sends this picture from Monticello:

I had to withstand an air temperature of -10°C (14°F), but it was worth it," says Melandri. "Although the sun was covered for 85%, the sunrise was dazzling. After a few minutes, it was necessary to use a solar filter to protect my eyes from the glare."
In New York, the eclipse was not as deep, but the sunrise was equally beautiful. Bob Kelly watched the show from Rye Beach, NY:

"The eclipsed sun beamed through some gaps in the cloud cover," says Kelly. "What a morning!"
We are receiving lots of photos from around the eclipse zone. Browse the gallery for the latest.
https://spaceweather.com/

SOLAR ECLIPSE ON MARCH 29TH:

28/3/2025

The New Moon is about to pass in front of the sun, almost completely covering the solar disk on March 29th. The best places to watch this partial eclipse are eastern Canada and Greenland where coverage will exceed 80%:

At maximum eclipse around 10:50 UTC, the solar disk will be transformed into a skinny crescent. Some reporters call this a "devil horn eclipse," but the view will be heavenly. If you're in the eclipse zone, check NASA's web page for a city-by-city timetable of when to look. (Be sure to use safe solar filters and/or eclipse glasses.)
Longtime space weather contributor Eliot Herman is in Greenland now, and he will be sending us photos of the event.
https://spaceweather.com/

ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE--TOMORROW - 2 October 2024:

1/10/2024

The Moon is about to pass directly in front of the sun, producing a 'ring of fire' solar eclipse. The path of annularity passes almost entirely over remote parts of the Pacific Ocean:

Above: Eclipse visibility map created by Spaceweather.com reader Peter Zimnikoval

Land masses where people can see the ring of fire include Easter Island and the southern tips of Argentina and Chile. Only ~175,000 people live in the path of annularity.
Annular eclipses occur when the Moon is a little too small to cover the entire sun. All around the circumference of the Moon, the sun peeks out from behind lunar craters and mountain ranges, producing the ring-of-fire effect.
https://spaceweather.com/

THE STRANGE CHILL OF THE MOON'S SHADOW:

6/4/2024

A 100-mile wide shaft of cool air is about to race through Earth's atmosphere faster than 1500 mph. It's the shadow of the Moon created by Monday's total eclipse of the sun. This animation shows the progress of darkness across the United States:

Animation credit: GreatAmericanEclipse.com

Solar eclipses make their own weather--starting with the temperature. How much the temperature falls depends on the humidity. Dry environments could see a drop of 8 to 14 degrees, less so if it’s humid. According to NASA, an eclipse in Zambia on June 21, 2001, reduced the temperature nearly 15 degrees.
The reduction in temperature can make clouds disappear. Satellites observing eclipses from Earth orbit have detected many examples. A 10-year study just published in Nature found that cumulus clouds begin dissipating when a mere 15 percent of the sun is covered. In some cases, clouds didn’t start to return until 50 minutes after maximum eclipse.
This could be good news for eclipse chasers in Mexico and Texas, where widespread cloudcover is expected on April 8th. The eclipse itself might help clear the sky. Stay tuned!
https://spaceweather.com/

RING OF FIRE SOLAR ECLIPSE:

14/10/2023

Sky watchers across the Americas witnessed a rare annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14th. The moon glided dead center across the solar disk, turning our star into a beautiful "ring of fire". Photos are pouring in from the eclipse zone. Check out our realtime gallery for the latest. In Nevada's Valley of the Moon (yes, that's a real place), Dr. Tony Phillips video-recorded the ring of fire through a bank of filter-perfect clouds:

Ring of Fire from Earth to Sky Calculus on Vimeo.

At the same time, two Earth to Sky Calculus helium balloons were en route to the stratophere on a mission to photograph the Moon's shadow from above. We might not know the results for a few days while the payloads are being recovered from remote wilderness areas. Stay tuned!
https://spaceweather.com/

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN:

3/5/2023

On April 20th, Eliot Hermann spent 63 seconds watching a total eclipse of the sun from Ah Chong Island off the coast of Australia. "It has taken me almost 2 weeks to process the images," he says. Here is his "best moment" from totality:

Hermann's stack of 27 images shows the Moon perfectly positioned in front of the sun, revealing multiple prominences alight with the red glow of hydrogen. The tallest is actually a spinning solar tornado which erupted on the same day as the eclipse. Hermann saw it just before it lifted off.
"The view from the beach was magical," says Hermann. "This wide angle view shows Jupiter above and Venus below the eclipsed sun."
Hermann isn't the only one still working on his eclipse photos. Browse the Solar Eclipse Gallery for recent submissions.
https://spaceweather.com/

TODAY'S RARE HYBRID SOLAR ECLIPSE:

20/4/2023

"It was a brilliant beautiful eclipse," reports eyewitness Eliot Herman. "We observed on a small island in the Montebello group off the coast of Australia very close to the center line." This is what he saw:

"Paul Maley made the arrangements and got the permissions," he adds. "There were only 15 of us, and it was really special to have the island to ourselves so far from civilization."
Maley was taking pictures alongside Herman. "This was my 82nd solar eclipse," Maley says. "At our location the eclipse lasted only 55 seconds, but it was spectacular. The sky was super clear following the recent passage of cyclone Ilsa." The exceptional transparency allowed him to capture several red prominences around the rim of the sun:

Now a marine conservation reserve, the islands were the site of three British atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in 1952 and 1956. Herman brought a Geiger counter to their observation site. "I tested a bunch of rocks and fragments but nothing was 'hot,'" he says. "The Montebellos are quite isolated. It was remarkable to have a chance to be here."
Today's hybrid eclipse was the first in almost 10 years, making it a rare event. Hybrid eclipses are a mixture of two types: annular and total. This one began as an annular eclipse over the Indian Ocean, transitioned into a total eclipse over western Australia, and ended as an annular eclipse over the South Pacific: map.
www.spaceweather.com

ONE DAY UNTIL THE SOLAR ECLIPSE:

19/4/2023

Tomorrow, April 20th, a rare hybrid solar eclipse will sweep across Australia and Indonesia. Eclipse chaser Mohamad Sol couldn't wait. One day early, he snapped this picture of the Moon from inside the path of totality:

"Just the day before the total solar eclipse, I observed this fabulous moonrise from Exmouth, Australia, where the eclipse will be total on April 20th," says Sol.
A hybrid eclipse is a mixture of two types: an annular eclipse and a total eclipse. The difference is the size of the Moon. During the annular phase, the Moon is slightly too small to cover the entire solar disk, resulting in a "ring of fire." During the total phase, the whole sun is covered, revealing the sun's ghostly corona.

Tomorrow's eclipse begins as an annular eclipse over the Indian Ocean, transitions into a total eclipse as it moves over western Australia, then becomes an annular eclipse again over the South Pacific. The last time such a hybrid eclipse occurred was Nov. 3, 2013.
Outside the narrow red path (shown above), the eclipse will be partial--neither annular nor total. The sun will still be very bright, but shaped like a crescent as the Moon takes a bite out of the solar disk. Observers in this broad region can look directly at the eclipsed sun using safe solar eclipse glasses.
www.spaceweather.com

Solar Eclipse Global Peace Meditation - 21 June 2020

20/6/2020

Global Peace Meditation
SOLAR ECLIPSE MEDITATION ON JUNE 21ST
http://www.globalpeacemeditation.com/solar-eclipse-meditation.html#

#ASCENSION 2020: Solar Flash, Timeline Split, Solstice Eclipse Superwave, Lightbody with Sandra Walter

9/6/2020

Ascension Path with Sandra Walter
23.7K subscribers

Sandra Walter: http://www.sandrawalter.com/
Classes and Events at https://www.ascensionpath.com/
Global Unity Meditations Every SUNday - Join us! Details at http://sandrawalter.com/unity

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DREAM SHOTS OF THE TOTAL ECLIPSE:

4/7/2019

When a total eclipse of the sun occurs over one of the world's greatest observatories, you know someone's going to take a good picture. Maybe even a "dream shot." Here it is:

Petr Horálek took the picture overlooking ESO's La Silla Observatory during the July 2nd total eclipse in Chile. "This was definitely my 'dream shot'," says Horálek. "The weather was just perfect, sky clear, wind calm, pleasant chill... and the eclipse--just wow!"
Meanwhile, floating above the clouds at 37,000 feet, Bill Reyna captured his own dream shot:

"I watched the eclipse from a plane flying through the path of totality," explains Reyna. "The oval shape of the Moon's shadow was visible on the cloudtops."
Browse the Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery for more images from the path of totality, which stretched from the South Pacific across great observatories in Chile to the eastern reaches of Argentina.
www.spaceweather.com

RARE SUNSET ECLIPSE OF THE SUN:

28/6/2019

Residents of Chile and Argentina are about to witness a rare total eclipse of the sun. On July 2, 2019, the new Moon will pass across the solar disk, creating a black hole in the sky just before sunset in the two South American countries. This animated map, created by space artist Larry Koehn, includes a detailed local timetable of events:

Total Eclipse of the Sun On July 2, 2019 in Chile and Argentina (no sound) from LarryKoehn on Vimeo.

The path of totality cuts across ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile and barely misses the center of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The Moon's elongated sunset shadow will swallow observers for 1 to 2 minutes depending on their exact location.
Outside the path of totality, the eclipse is partial with significant coverage in large cities such as Santiago, Chile (93%); Montevideo, Uruguay (94%); La Paz, Bolivia (63%); and Lima, Peru (54%). During the partial phase of the eclipse, the sun looks like a crescent, and it casts crescent-shaped shadows on the ground. South Americans should look for them underneath the canopies of leafy trees. Using safe eclipse glasses, it is possible to view the crescent sun directly.
The sun and Moon align for an eclipse once or twice every year. Aligning directly over a major observatory, however, is very rare. This video shows what the eclipse will look like over La Silla:

La Silla is home to some of the world's biggest telescopes and many skilled observers. Observatory staff will host more than a thousand members of the public in a viewing party among the telescope domes. A live high-definition webcast of the eclipse will be available on ESO's website and on ESO's Youtube Channel. The action begins on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stay tuned!

More live webcasts: from Chile; from Argentina; from La Silla.
www.spaceweather.com

Last year's solar eclipse set off a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected as far away as Brazil

4/5/2018

Lisa Grossman; Science News; 30 April 2018

It was the eclipse felt 'round the world'. The August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse that crossed the United States launched a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected nearly an hour later from Brazil (SN Online: 8/11/17). "The eclipse itself is a local phenomenon, but our study shows that it had effects around the world," says space scientist Brian Harding of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Harding watched the eclipse from St. Louis. But he and his colleagues activated a probe near São João do Cariri, Brazil, to observe uncharged particles 250 kilometers high in a part of the atmosphere called the thermosphere.

The probe recorded a fast-moving wave in the thermosphere go by half an hour after sunset in São João do Cariri and 55 minutes after the end of the total eclipse, the team reported April 24 in Geophysical Research Letters. The wave is produced by the motion of the moon's shadow, which cooled the atmosphere below it. That cold spot then acted like a sink, sucking in the warmer air ahead of it and causing a ripple in the atmosphere as the cold spot moved across the globe.

Previous eclipses also have launched waves at similar altitudes in the ionosphere, the charged plasma of the atmosphere, which overlaps with the electrically neutral thermosphere (SN Online: 8/13/17). This is the first time that scientists have observed a wave in the uncharged part of the atmosphere. Neutral particles are 100 to 1,000 times denser than plasma in the atmosphere, and it's important to know how they behave too, Harding says.

Science News: Published on Apr 30, 2018
This simulation predicts the atmosphere’s response to a solar eclipse. Color shows how temperature changes, and black lines trace motion in the atmosphere. The moon’s shadow cooled the atmosphere, producing a large wave that was visible from a research station in Brazil (black square) after the eclipse had ended. Read more: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/g... Credit: B.J. Harding et al/Geophysical Research Letters 2018.

Half a world away: the above simulation predicts the atmosphere's response to a solar eclipse.
https://www.sott.net/article/384617-Last-years-solar-eclipse-set-off-a-wave-in-the-upper-atmosphere-that-was-detected-as-far-away-as-Brazil

AS THE ECLIPSE NEARS, SOLAR ACTIVITY INCREASES:

20/8/2017

Only a few weeks ago, it seemed that the sun would be quiet and featureless when the Moon eclipsed it on Aug. 21st. Solar Minimum was in full swing. This weekend, however, the sun is welcoming the eclipse with a burst of renewed activity. "As the Moon approaches the sun, our nearest star is extending a friendly hand towards it," says Dave Eagle who sends this picture from Higham Ferrers, England:

"There is a huge prominence on the sun's eastern limb. If you are in the total eclipse path set your clock to greet this awesome spectacle on Monday," he says.

And that's just for starters. In addition, a remarkably-long sunspot group is sprawling across the solar disk. AR2671 stretches 140,000 miles from end to end, almost twice as wide as the planet Jupiter. Bill Hrudey sends this picture of the behemoth from the Cayman Islands:

Amateur astronomers watching the eclipse through safe solar telescopes will have no trouble seeing the rugged edge of the Moon cut across this impressive sunspot, eclipsing one dark core after another. If we're really lucky, the sunspot will explode. AR2671 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
www.spaceweather.com

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: THE PATH OF TOTALITY

16/8/2017

On Aug. 21, 2017, every square inch of the USA will experience a solar eclipse. In most places, the eclipse will be partial - that is, the Moon will cross the sun off-center, leaving a crescent shaped portion of the solar disk exposed. Is it really worth the trip to the path of totality when you can stay home and see the partial eclipse? Pulitzer prize winner Annie Dillard, who witnessed both types of eclipses in 1979, compared them as follows:

"A partial eclipse is very interesting. It bears almost no relation to a total eclipse. Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him, or as flying in an airplane does to falling out of an airplane."

Indeed, during the minutes of totality, the whole world changes. Saying that day turns into night barely scratches the surface of it. The shadow of the Moon lances down to Earth from a quarter million miles away. On one end is you; on the other end is a million square miles of dusty lunar terrain. You're connected, and you can feel the cold.

Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN), Alkim Ün

Darkness inside the path of totality has an alien quality. Because the shadow is only 70 miles wide, you can see daylight at the edges even while you stand in the dark core. This distant scattered light produces a slight reddish glow and unusual shadow effects. Many birds stop singing, daytime flower blossoms begin to close as if for the night, and bees return to their hives.

"What you see in an eclipse is entirely different from what you know," says Dillard, whose brilliant essay "Total Eclipse" is a must-read for anyone deciding whether to stay home ... or have their minds blown.
www.spaceweather.com