The sun not eclipsed during Coast Guard Fest

There’s been no shortage of sunshine during this year’s Coast Guard week. But if things were only slightly different, today in the Tri-cities would have been most interesting and unusual.

As the sun was rising here this morning, bright and in full view, it was perfectly eclipsed by the moon along a narrow swath across northeastern Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and northern China.

A partial solar eclipse was visible across most of the northern hemisphere including the most eastern parts of North America and nearly all of Eurasia.

If the timing for today’s eclipse had worked out ever-so-slightly differently, so that the moon’s shadow had passed over our Coast Guard City, today would have been pretty special.

As visitors lined up in the bright sunshine along the waterfront to tour the ships, enjoying not-so-good-for-you snacks from the street vendors, and as kids and families bounced and spun themselves silly on the carnival rides, the sky would have ever-so-slowly become almost imperceptibly darker as the moon’s shadow slowly grew over Grand Haven.

As totality approached — the short period of time when the moon completely blocks our view of the sun — it would seem as though dusk had fallen. The stars would have come out and for a very short time the sun’s dim but shining hot outer atmosphere called the corona would have been visible burning as a ring around the black disk of the moon.

Then, as gradually as it darkened, the sky would have brightened as the earth rotated on its axis and the moon moved on along its orbit and out of the way of the sun. And the ship tours and eating and bouncing and spinning would have continued as before.

The annual festival-ending fireworks on Saturday would have been in comparison almost anti-climatic.

But timing is everything with solar eclipses. The moon’s shadow didn’t pass over West Michigan this time around. And for those who have the means and drive to travel to see total solar eclipses (there are truly fanatical solar eclipse chasers who do this sort of thing), it was a long trip to China to witness this year’s spectacle.

Or it’s a long wait (and another long trip from here) for the next one, which, according to astronomers, is on July 22, 2009, across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China again.

Total solar eclipses are rare at any given location on earth because the moon and the sun need to be precisely aligned to produce one. The totally dark region of the moon’s shadow — the moon’s umbra — is only about 200 miles in diameter on earth’s surface. And depending on the circumstances, the moon’s umbra sweeps across earth’s surface at about 1,000 miles per hour.

Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be a total solar eclipse in Michigan this century. There will be a partial solar eclipse in Michigan on May 20, 2012. Mark your calendar.

You can read all about eclipses, see pictures of today’s eclipse, and access a program that predicts eclipses visible from any location on earth at http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

In the mean time, enjoy the last days of this year’s Coast Guard Festival and soak up all the sun you can: the dark days of November and December will soon be knocking at our doors.