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this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Science
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Honestly, I don't get it. I saw the total eclipse in '17 and I've seen a couple of partial eclipses and they weren't particularly exciting. I live about 10 min outside of the total eclipse path and I'm not even sure I'm going to walk outside for it. What am I missing? Why are people spending thousands of dollars to see it?
The duration of the total eclipse is going to be about 4 minutes which is going to make it rather a unique experience.
Fun fact: the Sun is 8.3 light-minutes away from Earth, so the eclipse will start with light that left the Sun 8 minutes earlier, and end with light that left it 4 minutes before the eclipse.
If someone were to stand on Earth and send a signal to the Sun saying "hey, the eclipse is starting!"... it wouldn't reach the Sun until 4 minutes after it already ended.
(Edit: typo)
Light is a constant and there isn't gravitational lensing between the Earth and Sun. Any light from the Sun always reaches us at the same speed of roughly 8 minutes
That's what I said (minus a typo).
(to nitpick however... there is some effect on the timing depending on how the planets align... wonder how a Moon right on its path impacted it)