Your guide to an unusual solar eclipse

Viewing from North America
Parts of North America will see this as a partial solar eclipse. However, there will also be locations that will see nothing of this eclipse.

If you have an atlas of the United States, draw a line starting from a point roughly from Imperial Beach, Calif., and extend it northeast to Quincy, Ill., and then east to Perth Amboy, N.J. All places above (or north) of this line will not have any view of the eclipse.

Meanwhile, those localities below (or south) of the line will be able to see at least a part of this eclipse near sunset, although for those places in the immediate vicinity of this line, the moon’s "bite" out of the lower edge of the sun will be tantalizingly small.

For example, while the eclipse will not be visible from New York City, just 85 miles to the southwest, at Philadelphia, the edge of the moon’s dark silhouette will appear to encroach upon the sun at 6:07 p.m. ET. Twelve minutes later, maximum eclipse will be attained, with the moon only obscuring about 2 percent of the sun’s diameter (or just three-tenths of one percent of the total area of the sun’s disk). The "eclipse" — if we can charitably call it that — will come to an end at 6:32 p.m. ET.

As one heads farther south, the eclipse will last longer, and this slight dent will evolve into a more noticeable scallop out of the sun’s left rim.

From Washington, the eclipse will last 41 minutes, with just over 5 percent of the sun’s diameter covered at 6:19 p.m. ET. Continuing southward, from Raleigh, N.C., the eclipse will last 69 minutes from start to finish, the moon covering a maximum of 15 percent of the sun’s diameter at 6:20 p.m. ET.

Along the Gulf Coast, the eclipse will last about 2½ hours; prospective observers will see anywhere from about 30 to 40 percent coverage, while for those in the Florida Keys, it will be a nearly three-hour affair, with the moon appearing to obscure about half of the Sun’s disk.

From San Juan, Puerto Rico, nearly 68 percent of the sun’s diameter will be eclipsed, maximum eclipse coming at 6:22 p.m. AST. Eighteen minutes later, the sun will drop down below the west-northwest horizon, making for a most unusual sunset!

Full prediction details for many cities are available from NASA.

In addition, NASA astronomer, Fred Espenak has a Web site dedicated to the solar eclipse, with maps, tables and additional prediction details.

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