World News – United States – How to Watch Today’s Total Solar Eclipse in South America – ExtremeTech

Today, December. 14, observers on a narrow path in northern Patagonia that crosses Chile and Argentina, witness one of the most spectacular phenomena in nature: a total solar eclipse. Such an event usually attracts travelers from all over the world. But due to COVID-19 and its associated restrictions, few Americans or international travelers are around to see it in person.

Argentina’s borders are largely closed to Americans, and Chile has only recently admitted travelers without being quarantined for 14 days. Many tours and flights have been canceled. The few stubborn travelers who recently arrived in Chile with evidence of a recent negative Covid test and other documents were able to move freely despite alleged no-travel zones.

After seeing the spectacular total solar eclipse in July 2019 from northwest Argentina at the foot of the Andes (see photo above), I was looking forward to returning to South America for today’s solar eclipse, but that wasn’t to be. Between travel uncertainty and the threat of COVID-19, I made my decision to stay home in New York, but I’ll be reviewing some of the live feeds that I detail below to look at the eclipse as a proxy.

The path of today’s solar eclipse through South America is similar to the 2019 event, except that the moon’s shadow runs about 300 miles further south over northern Patagonia. It is now approaching midsummer in the southern hemisphere, while the 2019 solar eclipse occurred in the South American winter. And while last year’s solar eclipse happened in the late afternoon for Chile and Argentina, it will happen when the sun is very high (~ 76 degrees) in the sky.

The solar eclipse begins at dawn in the Pacific, about 500 km east of the Marquesas Islands, and then the shadow of the moon moves over 2. 000 miles of open ocean before the northern edge of the shadow over Isla Mocha off the Chilean coast, the coast runs near the city of Saavedra, and then over Chile and Argentina, with the centerline passing near the Chilean resorts of Villerica and Pucon. The solar eclipse occurs near the town of Sierra Colorada in central Argentina at 1:14 p.m.. m. Local time (11:14 am a. m. E.. . T. . ) where the entirety has its maximum duration of 2 minutes 10 seconds and the sun is high in the sky (76 degrees). The shadow of the moon soon completes its passage through South America, with the centerline running near the resort of La Gruta on the Gulf of San Matias and then merging into the South Atlantic, with the entirety ending at sunset about 120 miles off the African coast to the west of Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Even the partial phases of the solar eclipse are largely visible only in the southern hemisphere and will not be seen at all in North America. Fortunately, some organizations are planning to stream the event live. Watching a feed is no substitute for being there in person, but it can be a rewarding experience as I found while monitoring multiple feeds of the 2016 eclipse from Indonesia and Woleai Atoll. NASA has a solar eclipse page and will be creating a live feed starting at 10:30 am. m. on the public channel of NASA TV. SLOOH, a robotic telescope service, will also be running a live feed from 9:30 a.m.. m. Canal 10, a news channel in Rio Negro, Argentina, will stream the event live in Spanish. Time and Date also does a live stream from 9:30 am. m. It’s great that there are so many different live feeds as there is no guarantee of clear weather anywhere.

Compared to some total eclipses that often traverse remote and inaccessible parts of our planet, today’s event would have been relatively easy for travelers without COVID-19 to reach. Not so the solar eclipse on Jan.. December 2021, when the path of totality crosses western Antarctica and the southern ocean and requires some extreme voyages to observe. There will be expeditions to view the eclipse from a charter flight, from a cruise ship, and from a camp in Antarctica, with passengers flown there from the southern tip of South America. All of them are expensive offers with flights from 12. $ 000, cruises (which can be three weeks or more) of at least 15. 000 USD and a stay of several nights in Antarctica of about 40. 000 USD.

The following solar eclipse in 2023, with the best viewing prospects on the remote Northwest Cape Peninsula of Australia, will be easier, but still challenging. However, mark your calendar for the 8th. April 2024, when a relatively long solar eclipse with a total duration of up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds is to cross Mexico, the USA and Canada’s maritime provinces with the cities of Mazatlan, Dallas and Indianapolis, Buffalo and Rochester are all on the path of totality.

This can be a long wait for those who want to see their first (or next) total solar eclipse. But in the meantime, we can at least rest assured that we have live feeds of these eclipses that we cannot attend, although this is no substitute for seeing the solar eclipse with our own eyes.

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Solar eclipse, solar eclipse from 14. December 2020, moon, lunar eclipse