ST. GEORGE — On Saturday morning, an annular solar eclipse will darken skies, a spectacle expected to cram Southern Utah highways, as people make the quest to see a ring of fire in the sky.
This year, the celestial event will pass over seven states, 30 national parks and nearly all of southern and central Utah.
Weather permitting, Southern Utah, home to exceptionally dark night skies and generally good weather, will offer some of the best seats in the house for this year’s annular solar eclipse. The event should last nearly three hours. In Richfield, about 2 1/2 hours northeast of St. George, a partial eclipse will begin at 9:09 a.m. MDT, and then build toward an annular eclipse at 10:26 a.m. MDT.
Those in the path of the annular eclipse will witness several phases, starting with a crescent-shaped partial eclipse as the moon begins to cross over the sun. About an hour and 20 minutes later, the moon will move directly in front of the sun, creating the annularity, or ring of fire, and will last one to five minutes.
It is during this phase that the sky will grow darker, making the air a bit cooler, according to NASA. The moon will continue its journey across the sun for another hour and 20 minutes or so, which creates a partial eclipse before the lunar orb disappears.
This year’s celestial event will hover above the richest concentration of national park areas across Utah and the nation. In fact, 13 Utah state parks will be within the full eclipse zone and six others will be just outside it.
The path of annularity will cross over three of Utah’s national parks, including Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef. For the complete list of national parks within the path, visit this website.
Micah Clark told St. George News in an email that Bryce Canyon Country is not just a tourist destination but an “astronomical wonderland” and the perfect place to watch the eclipse.
Cedar Breaks will host a public event at the North View Overlook to observe the solar eclipse from 9 a.m.- noon, Jonathan Payne with the National Parks Service said. Rangers will be available to manage telescopes and provide safe eclipse glasses to the public, along with books and badges for younger viewers.
Brian Head is expected to be in the path of the annular solar eclipse, and the town’s high elevation could offer clearer skies, James Graven with Treehouse Communications wrote in an email to Cedar City News.
The ring of fire
According to the American Astrological Society, an eclipse is a celestial event that drastically changes the appearance of the two largest objects in the sky (as seen from Earth) — the sun and the moon.
A solar eclipse occurs when a new moon passes between the sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth that either fully or partially blocks the sun’s light, as seen from certain locations on Earth. This phenomenon occurs only occasionally because the moon doesn’t orbit in the exact same plane as the sun and Earth. It is during the eclipse season when they align. Eclipse season is an approximately 35-day period every six months when this alignment may occur, dependent on the timing of the new and full moons.
This year’s annular solar eclipse will take place when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth; the moon will appear much smaller and not completely cover the sun’s surface. Instead, it will appear as a dark disk on top of a larger, bright disk, creating what looks like a ring around the moon — an otherworldly phenomenon often referred to as the “ring of fire.”
In North America, weather permitting, the eclipse will first be seen in Oregon at 10:13 a.m. MDT. The eclipse will cross over Utah with the speed of the moon’s shadow moving at nearly 3,900 mph, and by the time it leaves the Beehive state, the lunar shadow will slow to about 2,600 mph.
Protect your eyes
Safety is key when viewing a solar eclipse. Other than during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, or when the moon completely blocks the sun’s face, it is never safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing, according to the American Astronomical Society.
This includes viewing any part of the sun through a camera lens, binoculars or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics. In these cases, the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and instantly cause severe injury to the eyes.
When watching a partial or annular solar eclipse, solar viewing glasses, commonly referred to as eclipse glasses, must be worn at all times. These glasses are not regular sunglasses, but instead, are thousands of times darker than even the darkest sunglasses. Regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the sun.
One way to view the eclipse without specialized eclipse glasses is to use a pinhole projector, which has a small opening, such as a hole punched in an index card, and is used to project an image of the sun onto a nearby surface. Then, with one’s back facing the sun, the projected image can be safely viewed. Do not, however, look directly at the sun through the pinhole, NASA says.
Expect delays and plan ahead
This year’s astronomical spectacle is expected to draw large crowds to the Beehive state. So much so, that the Utah Department of Transportation has posted an advisory for motorists to expect heavy traffic, especially in the central portions of the state, starting on Friday, and will continue through Sunday. State Route 14 is expected to be particularly affected over the weekend.
UDOT has posted signs all over Southern Utah alerting motorists to expect delays, including signs on Interstate 15 heading in both directions. The advisory also cautions drivers to not park on the shoulder or in the roadway during the event and to have extra fuel and other supplies on hand.
Total solar eclipse of 2024
The next eclipse will be a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, which will be visible in North America as it passes over parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada, according to NASA.
What makes the upcoming total solar eclipse so special is that totality is expected to last twice as long as in 2017, depending on the observer’s location, and is set to be the longest totality on land for over a decade. As an added bonus, the sun’s corona during totality is expected to be huge.
After the total solar eclipse in April of 2024, the next total solar eclipse that will be visible in North America will not take place until March 30, 2033. The next annual solar eclipse will not be visible until 2039.
Find more information on how varying cultures perceived eclipses through time on this website.
Astrologically speaking, the annular solar eclipse taking place this weekend also ushers in a time of change, as reported by Cosmic Rain.
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