NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — On April 8, we will get an experience we won’t get again in the United States until 2044.
What is it?
A solar eclipse!
What can we see from Nashville?
The earth and the moon are constantly moving, which means the eclipse will move, too. The path of totality is where the full solar eclipse moves as the earth and moon move.
In Nashville, we will not be able to see totality, but we get very close.
At around 2:03 p.m., 94.8% of the sun will be covered, according to NASA’s interactive map.
Where can I go to see the full solar eclipse?
The closest city to Nashville that will is in the path of totality this year is Paducah, Kentucky. It's about a 2 hour drive from Nashville, and will be in totality for one minute and 48 seconds around 2:00 p.m., according to a NASA map.
Let’s talk science
What is a solar eclipse, anyway?
Scientists call it syzygy.
A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and blocks the face of the sun from our view.
But wait… isn’t the sun bigger than the moon? How come we still can’t see it?
The sun is approximately 400 times wider than the moon, according to NASA. But, it is also almost 400 times farther away from the moon, so even though one is bigger, during a solar eclipse they appear to be the same size from what we can see on earth.
During the annular solar eclipse, the moon doesn’t completely cover the sun because it is at or near its farthest point from earth, so it looks smaller than the sun and we can still partly see the sun. These happen more often — they create the “ring of fire” visual around the moon.
That explains why we can’t see the sun. But why is it so rare to see a solar eclipse if that is the only thing standing in the way?
The moon orbits earth every month, so in theory, we would see the eclipse every month, right?
But there is another factor.
The moon’s orbit around the earth is not a perfect circle — it is at an angle — tilted at about 5 degrees. It’s not on the same plane as the sun and earth’s orbit. Because of this angle, the moon’s shadow misses the Earth most of the time.
“As the moon goes around in its orbit and the earth is rotating, the shadow of the moon being cast on the earth will move across the earth,” Dr. Shannon Schmoll said in a panel about the eclipse.
Don't forget: wear your eclipse glasses to see the magic happen! If you don't have them, NewsChannel 5's Jason Lamb did an article on other fun, safe ways to watch the eclipse.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
