August 28 2007 Full Moon Eclipse

FayObserver.com - Backyard Universe: A Carolina's total solar eclipse

For years I've wondered just how early I should start beating the drum about the upcoming total eclipse of the sun that will cross North and South Carolina six years from now.

The sun hasn't been completely blotted out by the moon since March 7, 1970 for North Carolina observers, and not since 1979 have we had a total solar eclipse crossing any part of the continental U.S. There's actually a total solar eclipse visible somewhere on Earth about every 1 ½ years on average. But to see the total eclipse, or "totality," you have to be on the narrow eclipse path which too often crosses some distant piece of the planet.

I witnessed the 1970 eclipse as a high school junior using a home-built telescope from my backyard. Back then I read that the next total eclipse of the sun over North Carolina wouldn't happen until August 21, 2017.

That date seemed so far in the future that I wrote off even being around to take in the 2017 eclipse.

Since 1970 however, I've witnessed three total eclipses from outside the U.S.: the 1991 eclipse over Mexico, the 1998 one from the Caribbean, and, most recently, a decade ago in June 2001 over Africa.

It's good to know that a scant six years from now a total eclipse of the sun will come to me - or to within a tank of gas of me.

August 21, 2017, the day when the moon's shadow will sweep from the extreme western tip of NC to Charleston, SC and plunge portions of the Carolina's into midday darkness, is only a few years away.

If you weren't around for, or missed, the 1970 eclipse, or have yet to witness a total eclipse of the sun, you only have to wait a few more years and have a tank of gas (who knows what that will cost in 2017?) to see arguably nature's most spectacular sight.

The moon's shadow will first hit U.S. shores in the Pacific Northwest at Lincoln Beach, OR around 10:15 a.m. local time on the morning of August 21, 2017. It will then sweep across the country from northwest to southeast. The eclipse is total for the greatest amount of time, 2 minutes 40 seconds, near Hopkinsville, KY. Andrews, NC, between Murphy and Bryson City, is dead on the eclipse center line. South Carolina is bisected by the eclipse track and the towns of Lexington, Belton and Princeton, as well as SC lakes Murray, Moultrie and Marion, are all dead center on the eclipse path.

Charleston is near the southern edge of the path of total eclipse, and, if skies are clear, Charleston will see totality at 2:49 p.m. It will take the moon's shadow an hour and 33 minutes to diagonally cross the entire U.S. mainland, the first time that's happened since 1918.

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Peterson First Guide to Solar System