A new, user-friendly online map is now available to help Mainers pinpoint the best location to view this Saturday’s annular solar eclipse, as well as next year’s total version. The interactive map integrates precise geographic locations with eclipse duration and time details, as well as potential cloud cover and light pollution information.
And it’s free to use.
The map, which has separate pages for this week’s celestial event, as well as next April’s, is a joint venture between The Planetary Society and The Eclipse Company. The society is an American-based international, non-governmental organization involved in astronomy outreach and education. It was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman. The company, owned by Stephen Watkins and Jesse Tomlinson, built and is hosting the map on its website.
Annular — or partial — eclipses happen when the moon is at its furthest point from us and then passes between Earth and the sun. At that time, the moon appears smaller than the sun and does not completely cover the star. In April 2024, when the moon gets between us and the sun, it will be closer to the Earth, thus appearing large enough to block the sun altogether.
The new map is designed to demystify and democratize eclipse viewing, said Danielle Gunn, the society’s chief communications officer.
“For a lot of people, the upcoming annular eclipse on Oct. 14 and total solar eclipse on April 8 will be their first time trying to figure out how to see an eclipse,” Gunn said. “Many of the maps available are great for eclipse chasers, but intimidating for everyday people.”
To use the map, users just need to search their location. This is done with pull down menus for city names, local parks or even whole regions.
A search for Bangor reveals Saturday’s annular eclipse will take place between 12:26 p.m. and 2:27 p.m. The map also states the city is 1,903 miles from the eclipse’s main viewing path, which will pass over the southwestern region of the United States.
The eclipse map also gives exact eclipse percentages. In the skies over Bangor, the moon will take up 12.6 percent of the sun. Above Portland, 15.1 percent of our star will appear to go missing. The eclipse percentage goes up, the further west a viewer is located.
The map collaboration stems from a shared desire between both organizations to help as many people as possible experience the upcoming solar eclipses.
“After seeing the 2017 eclipse, I was shocked to discover how many people lived near the path of totality but didn’t make the extra effort to experience it fully,” said Jesse Tomlinson, co-founder of The Eclipse Company. “We designed this tool specifically to inspire folks to get in the path — it is a transformative experience not to be missed.”
For watching Saturday’s annular eclipse, it’s important to never look directly at the sun without proper solar viewing glasses, often known as eclipse glasses. They are thousands of times darker than your typical shades and comply with international safety standards.
“Viewing any part of the bright [sun] through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury,” the official NASA eclipse event page states.
Mainers wanting to watch the annular eclipse with other people or get a peep through an eclipse-safe telescope have at least a couple of options: The University of Maine’s Versant Power Astronomy Center will host a viewing event at 11:30 a.m. culminating with public ganders of the eclipse through the Clark Telescope; and eclipse viewing is part of this year’s 10th annual Stars over Katahdin event at the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
