INDIANA (WTWO/WAWV) — We are just over two months away from the long-awaited solar eclipse.
Over the next eight weeks, every Monday on WTWO, we want to ensure you’re covered on everything you need to know about the eclipse.
To kick off “Your Guide 2 the Eclipse”, wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what it is, why it’s happening, and why it’s so rare?
“There will not be another total solar eclipse seen anywhere in the entire country for 20 years and that one will only be seen in North Dakota and Montana,” Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker said.
The rare opportunity to see the solar eclipse will be on April 8, and many of our local cities will be in the path of totality.
“The next total solar eclipse to hit Terre Haute itself won’t come until like October 25, 2153 or something like [that],” Dr. Elizabeth Melton, Director of the Oakley Observatories at Rose-Hulman, said.
Walker explained that essentially, you have the sun, the earth, and the moon passes in between.
“You have the earth rotating in an elliptical around the sun and spinning. And then you have the moon rotating around the earth. So it has to be all of that lining up at the exact right time. You can only have a solar eclipse when you have what’s called a ‘new moon’ when the moon is in the right position, but not only does it have to be in the right position, it has to be in the right position compared with the earth as well,” Walker said.
The last eclipse was in 2017 which covered about 12 million people. This upcoming eclipse will cover roughly 32 million people.
Cities that are along the center line will be able to view it for about four minutes.
“It’s going to last about twice as long, the totality. The best place to view the eclipse is what we call the center line. The total eclipse will look the same here as it does in Vincennes but the difference is, in Vincennes, they’re on the center line. Meaning the eclipse will last longer there, the totality,” Walker said.
Along that center line, the eclipse will cover 15 states. In 2017, it only went over Nashville, Tennessee. This time around, it will cover many major cities, and everyone in the country will see at least a partial eclipse.
“You’ll be able to see Baily’s Beads on the moon and the diamond ring effect and then totality. And during totality, it’s going to look like there’s a sunset on every horizon no matter which way you turn,” Dr. Melton said.
When you see the eclipse, will depend on where you are.
In Terre Haute, the eclipse will reach totality around 3:05 EST.
But being that it will be April, we can’t assume the weather will work in our favor.
“If we’re looking at averages, there is probably about a 70% chance there’s going to be some clouds around that day. That could spoil the whole thing. So we may have to deal with that where there are some parts of our area that will see it all, others may have some clouds. As we get closer we’ll watch with weather to see what it looks like,” Walker said.
Walker said you will also be able to see the planet Venus in the middle of the afternoon, which is highly unusual.
“The temperature will drop. It will drop maybe 10-15 degrees in a short period of time, wind will kind of calm down. Animals act kind of weird, they think it’s getting to be nighttime so they act a little bit odd,” Walker said.
Nonetheless, it’s something you’ll want to hop outside and look at if you can, with solar eclipse glasses of course.
“This truly, for this area, is once in a lifetime,” Walker said.
