Total solar eclipse on April 8: What makes it so special?

A solar eclipse is all set to cross the North America, and will be passing over the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Such a solar eclipse is not very common for any specific spot. As per the Royal Museums Greenwich, one a specific spot on Earth experiences a total solar eclipse, it will actually be over 400 years after such a rare incidence will take place again.

Here, we explain as to why such a solar eclipse is a rare incidence. Let's understand everything step by step.

Understanding solar eclipses

When the Moon actually moves in the middle of the Sun and the Earth, it is at that moment when a solar eclipse takes place. In a solar eclipse, the moon actually blocks the Sun's light. The moon may does so either partially or fully. Such an incident casts a significant shadow on a few parts of the world.

Now, there exist four different types of solar eclipses. These are hybrid solar eclipse, partial solar eclipse, annual solar eclipse, and the total solar eclipse.

A total solar eclipse is about to occur on April 8. Such an incidence occurs in situations when the moon is able to block the Sun entirely. The areas that fall in the center of the Moon's shadow at such a moment experience a total solar eclipse.

A total solar eclipse is a rare incidence. Why so?

Well, essentially somewhere between two to five solar eclipses can actually occur in a year. However, this is not true for the case of total solar eclipses. Total eclipses can occur somewhere about once in every 18 months. A specific spot on the planet experiences a total solar eclipse only one in about four centuries.

The reason behind this is that a total eclipse can only be visible if a person is standing in the umbra. The umbra is the darker part of the shadow and its other part is known as penumbra. The umbral shadow is actually very small, and it is able to cover only a tiny part of the planet. It would be fair to say that the entire path of the umbral shadow at the time of a solar eclipse will actually be able to cover a portion less than one percent of the entire surface of the Earth. Thus, only a few will be able to spot the total eclipse at a time, making it a rare event.

Also, one cannot deny the fact that over 70 percent of the surface of the Earth is actually underwater. Additionally, half of the land is actually uninhabited. This makes spotting a total solar eclipse even rare.