Spring kicks off with a super total eclipse of the sun on Friday

Space buffs are getting ready for a cosmic triple play this Friday as a rare total solar eclipse takes place during a ‘supermoon’ on the Spring equinox.

Starting at 4:30 am EDT on the morning of Mar. 20 the moon will go between the Earth and the sun, creating a total solar eclipse. A lucky few people on remote islands in the northern Atlantic and Arctic Oceans will get a chance to witness the eerie black hole effect in the sky as the moon completely blocks out the sun for a fleeting few minutes. Optimum visibility will be from Norway’s Faroe Islands, however most of Europe, north-east Asia and north-west Africa will be able to see at least a partial eclipse where the Sun will appear to have a bite taken out of it to varying degrees, depending on one’s location.

Here in Canada unfortunately the show will be over by our sunrise, expect perhaps for those in Newfoundland, southeastern Baffin Island or northeastern Ellesmere Island where keen onlookers may be able to (theoretically at least) catch the very every end of the partial eclipse just as the sun peeks over the local horizon.

Adding to the cool factor for this celestial event will be that a perigee or ‘supermoon’ will be moving in front of the sun during the eclipse, meaning that the moon’s dark outline or silhouette will be the largest possible in the sky. That’s because when the moon is at perigee, it is the closest it can get to the Earth in its egg-shaped orbit. This happens a few times a year, however usually when we talk about supermoons, it is when the moon is in its full phase at night and we can see it. This time, it is a dark super moon since solar eclipses only occur during the new moon phase.

And if that is not cosmically special enough, the Vernal equinox—when day and night lengths are equal—falls on the same day as well, occurring at 6:45 pm EDT on Mar. 20th. A total solar eclipse on the first day of Spring won’t happen again until the year 2034.

To really get a good view of this eclipse, a sky-watcher would have to be located somewhere along a 100 km wide strip of the Earth that represents where the moon’s shadow will run for 5,800 km from north-eastern North America to the Atlantic between Iceland and United Kingdom and up through the Arctic ocean.

Lucky ellipse watchers in most of Scotland, England, Norway and Finland will see as much as 90 percent of the Sun covered by the moon, whereas locations more south, like in Rome, Italy will see a more modest 50 percent of the sun disappear in the early morning hours of Friday.

But if you can’t be in the North Atlantic or Arctic for this solar disappearing act then no need to fret, because you can still take in the sky show thanks to a live web broadcast of the entire eclipse. The Virtual Telescope Project will have cameras set up in northern Europe along the eclipse pathway beaming images through the internet for all to enjoy.