On March 8 and 9, the moon will throw some serious shade on Southeast Asia during a total solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse will be visible to a wider area, including Australia, Hawaii, and Alaska. But if you’re not going to be under the moon’s dusky shadow, you can still catch the astronomical event right here on Slooh’s livestream, starting at 6 pm Eastern.
The telescope-broadcasting service’s team of astro-experts hauled a mobile observatory to the wilds of Indonesia so they could record the perfectly-aligned Earth, moon, and sun. The group of scientists couldn’t use their fixed stations at other locations because “the path of totality is very narrow,” says Slooh founder Michael Paolucci, “so you have to be in a specific locale.” If the Earth and moon weren’t moving, the darkest part of the moon's shadow—called the umbra—would just be a single dark spot. Instead, it creates a ribbon of blackouts as it crosses over different areas, completely obscuring the sun.
“It might only be three minutes of totality [in each location along the path],” said Paolucci, “but the entire environment reacts immediately—you’ll see cows hustling back to the barn thinking they’re late, birds fluttering. It’s a cool moment.”
Beginning on March 8 at 7:15 pm Eastern, the full eclipse will leave its thin trail of darkness across 100 miles of Indonesia before it moves eastward to the Pacific. It will end approximately three hours later.
And though the eclipse’s path is narrow, the moon will actually appear jumbo-sized. It’ll be close to perigee, or at its nearest point to Earth for the month—an event that’s informally referred to as a supermoon. We’ll only get six of these XL moons in all of 2016, so it makes tomorrow’s eclipse extra special.
North America won't see a total solar eclipse until August 21, 2017, so tune in tomorrow and enjoy the moon's moment in the sun.
You can go to Slooh.com to join and watch this live broadcast, snap and share your own photos during the event, chat with audience members and interact with the hosts, and personally control Slooh’s telescopes.
