• Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Honestly, I don’t get it. I saw the total eclipse in '17 and I’ve seen a couple of partial eclipses and they weren’t particularly exciting. I live about 10 min outside of the total eclipse path and I’m not even sure I’m going to walk outside for it. What am I missing? Why are people spending thousands of dollars to see it?

    • MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      The duration of the total eclipse is going to be about 4 minutes which is going to make it rather a unique experience.

      • jarfil@beehaw.org
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        6 months ago

        Fun fact: the Sun is 8.3 light-seonds away from Earth, so the eclipse will start with light that left the Sun 8 minutes earlier, and end with light that left it 4 minutes before the eclipse.

        If someone were to stand on Earth and send a signal to the Sun saying “hey, the eclipse is starting!”… it wouldn’t reach the Sun until 4 minutes after it already ended.

        • MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          Light is a constant and there isn’t gravitational lensing between the Earth and Sun. Any light from the Sun always reaches us at the same speed of roughly 8 minutes