Fire in the Sky! Event Cache

We are inviting everyone to a meet and greet at our home starting at 5:00pm. The solar event will be at it's greatest at approximately 6:30pm. The last photo on the page shows a satellite photo of the area. The blue X being our house and the red line being the center line of the path of annularity. The red X is is just a short walk from our deck and just happens to be where one of our caches used to be!

Here's a chance to put some faces on those names! We'll be BBQing some burgers, bring a side dish if you can!
Be sure to bring the proper eye protection!

Annular Solar Eclipse

Unfortunately, not every eclipse of the Sun is a total eclipse. Sometimes, the Moon is too small to cover the entire Sun's disk. To understand why, we need to talk about the Moon's orbit around Earth. That orbit is not perfectly round but is oval or elliptical in shape. As the Moon orbits our planet, it's distance varies from about 221,000 to 252,000 miles. This 13% variation in the Moon's distance makes the Moon's apparent size in our sky vary by the same amount. When the Moon is on the near side of its orbit, the Moon appears larger than the Sun. If an eclipse occurs at that time, it will be a total eclipse. However, if an eclipse occurs while the Moon is on the far side of its orbit, the Moon appears smaller than the Sun and can't completely cover it. Looking down from space, we would see that the Moon's umbral shadow is not long enough to reach Earth. Instead, the antumbra shadow reaches Earth.

The track of the antumbra is called the path of annularity. If you are within this path, you will see an eclipse where a ring or annulus of bright sunlight surrounds the Moon at the maximum phase. Annular eclipses are also dangerous to look directly with the naked eye. You must use the same precautions needed for safely viewing a partial eclipse of the Sun