Some Fun Facts About Solar Eclipses

• The longest duration for a total solar eclipse is 7.5 minutes.
• A total solar eclipse is not noticeable until the Sun is more than 90 percent covered by the Moon. At 99 percent coverage, daytime lighting resembles local twilight.
• Eclipse shadows travel at 1,100 miles per hour at the equator and up to 5,000 miles per hour near the poles.
• The maximum number of solar eclipses (partial, annular, or total) is 5 per year.
• There are at least 2 solar eclipses per year somewhere on the Earth.
• Total solar eclipses happen about once every 1.5 years.
• Nearly identical eclipses (total, annual, or partial) occur after 18 years and 11 days, or every 6,585.32 days (Saros Cycle).
• Partial solar eclipses can be seen up to 3,000 miles from the track of totality.
• Before the advent of modern atomic clocks, studies of ancient records of solar eclipses allowed astronomers to detect a 0.001 second per century slowing down in Earth’s rotation.
• Total solar eclipses happen because the Sun is near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, and the Moon is at perigee at this node at the same time.
• Annular solar eclipses happen because the Sun is near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, and the Moon is at apogee at this node at the same time.
• Shadow bands are often seen on the ground as totality approaches.
• Light filtering through leaves on trees casts crescent shadows as totality approaches.
• Local animals and birds often prepare for sleep or behave confusedly during totality.
• Local temperatures often drop 20 degrees or more near totality.
• During totality, the horizon is illuminated in a narrow band of light, because an observer is seeing distant localities not under the direct umbra of the Moon’s shadow.