Jamie is an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer who writes about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. He is the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners, and is a senior contributor at Forbes.
, you'll experience a brief period of darkness — totality — for a few seconds or minutes. This is the only safe time to look directly at the sun withoutThese prominences will almost certainly be on show during totality in North America on April 8, because the sun is likely at the peak of its 11-year
, closer to the moon's edge, and would be visible for only a few minutes," French said."These would appear similar to low-altitude prominences, visible as red loops closer to the sun's surface." We'll see prominences during totality on April 8."Prominences come in a large range of sizes and are more common during solar maximum," French said."Sometimes prominences erupt, untethering from the sun's surface and expanding into the
Given that it's unlikely that such brief events will occur during totality, there's only one solution: to make totality longer. One way to extend it is to get in a supersonic jet and chase the moon's shadow. Scientists did that in 1973 using Concorde, achieving a 73-minute totality.
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