Total Eclipse - Fun Facts

The 2017 eclipse is likely to be the most-viewed total solar eclipse in history, with approximately 12 million people living in the path of totality and millions more traveling from all over the world to view this once-in-multiple-lifetimes event.

 

The moon’s shadow, called the umbra, will be 70 miles wide during the 2017 eclipse, and will race across the U.S. at roughly 1000 miles per hour.

 

Totality will occur first in Oregon at around 10:15 am Pacific time (12:15 p.m. Central), and last in South Carolina at around 2:45 pm Eastern time (1:45 pm Central). The umbra will travel the entire U.S. in just 90 minutes.

 

The partial phase of the eclipse will begin in Atchison at 11:40 am. Those wearing eclipse glasses will see a small circular “bite” begin to appear on the edge of the Sun, becoming larger over the next hour and a half until only a small crescent of the sun remains— but the effects will be noticeable even without eclipse glasses. The day will gradually become darker and the temperature will slowly drop. The pinpoints of light filtering through the leaves of trees will become small crescents, small images of the eclipsing sun. Shadows will become sharper.

 

As totality approaches, stars will begin to be visible. In the seconds before totality, wave-like shadow bands will appear on the ground. In moments before totality, as the sun disappears completely, beads of light appear (known as Baily’s Beads), formed by the mountains and craters on the Moon’s surface. When just one bead is left, it will create the famous “diamond ring” effect.

 

Totality in Atchison will occur at 1:06 pm. During totality, the sky will appear like twilight. The temperature will have dropped by about 10 °F. A glowing halo will be visible around the sun, which is the corona, the sun’s 1 million °C atmosphere. You might also see some spots of red around the edge of the sun, which is its inner atmosphere, called the chromosphere. Strange animal behavior is often reported during totality. Fooled that the sun is setting, birds may go quiet, replaced by the sounds of crickets.

 

After 2 minutes and 19 seconds of totality, the whole process reverses, with the second partial phase ending at 2:34 pm.