Tag Archives: upcoming events

Like many things, astronomical events rarely live up to the advance hype excited enthusiasts promise, but this one should. Late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 20, there will be an annular eclipse of the Sun – and Albuquerque is dead-center along the path of maximum coverage. And the view should be truly awesome as the Sun sets as a burning ring of fire. Solar eclipses are, of course, caused by the Moon passing in front of the Sun. But the Moon’s distance varies, and so those eclipses where the entire Moon is between us and the Sun vary also. Since the Moon was at its closest to Earth recently with the “supermoon” when it was last Full (and therefore opposite the Sun), now on the other side of its orbit it will be at its farthest point from us when it passes in front of the Sun, and will appear smaller. While during a total solar eclipse, the Moon exactly covers the entire solar disk, in an annular eclipse like this, a thin brightly-glowing strip around the edges will still be visible. This means that when the Moon passes before the Sun that afternoon, it will not cover it completely but leave a red burning circle in the sky. Though the sky should not blacken and the stars come out as the flaming atmosphere of our parent star suddenly becomes visible, the view from right here should be pretty … Continue reading →