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Showing posts with the label ECLIPSE

During the 2024 eclipse, biologists like us want to find out how birds will respond to darkness in the middle of the day

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The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, coincides with an exciting time for wild birds. Local birds are singing for mates and fighting for territories as they gear up for their once-a-year chance to breed. Tens of millions of migrating birds will be passing through the path of totality, and they mostly migrate at night. Because birds use light to match their behaviors to their environment, scientists like us have lots of questions about how they will respond to the eclipse. Will they pause their fighting and wooing and shift toward bedtime-like behaviors? How about a nocturnal animal like an owl or those nighttime migrants – will ...... Read Full article on HadNews

North America’s Total Solar Eclipse

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A total solar eclipse takes place on April 8 across North America. These events occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the Sun’s face. This plunges observers into a darkness similar to dawn or dusk. During the upcoming eclipse, the path of totality, where observers experience the darkest part of the Moon’s shadow (the umbra), crosses Mexico, arcing north-east through Texas, the Midwest and briefly entering Canada before ending in Maine. Total solar eclipses occur roughly every 18 months at some location on Earth. The last total solar eclipse that crossed the US took place on August 21 2017. An internation...... Read Full article on HadNews

April’s eclipse will mean interruptions in solar power generation, which could strain electrical grids

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During the most recent total solar eclipse visible in the U.S., on Aug. 21, 2017, the skies darkened as the Moon crossed in front of the Sun. It blocked out all sunlight – except for that from a golden ring visible around the Moon’s shape, called the corona. Not surprisingly, solar power generation across North America plummeted for several hours, from the first moment the Moon began to obscure the Sun to when the Sun’s disk was clear again. On April 8, 2024, another total solar eclipse will track across the U.S., causing perhaps an even greater loss of solar power generation. Although this will be the second total solar eclipse visib...... Read Full article on HadNews