2023-10-13 10:55:01
A solar eclipse, alignment of the Sun, Moon and Earth, will be visible Saturday October 14, 2023 in America. Thus, it will be possible to observe this phenomenon, with the greatest caution, from the skies of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyana.
The solar eclipse is a phenomenon that is not rare. However, the last one visible from the skies of the Antilles dates back to August 21, 2017. Six years later, this spectacle of the stars will be visible in the afternoon of Saturday October 14, 2023 from Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyana.
The Moon will attack the edge of the solar disk at 1:08.5 p.m. At the peak of the eclipse, at 2:44 p.m., the degree of obscuration will be 44% and the magnitude will be 54%. At 4:06.5 p.m. the show will end. The phenomenon will be almost identical in Guadeloupe, but will occur approximately 4 minutes before Martinique. In Guyana the eclipse will begin at 2:48 p.m. (local time) and end at 5:36 p.m. At the time of the maximum of the eclipse, at 3:19 p.m., the obscuration will be close to 60%, i.e. greater than Martinique.
Émile Bidoux, president of the Astronomical Sciences Discovery Club (CDSA)
Partial solar eclipse of October 14, 2023. • ©CDSA
To admire the phenomenon, it is imperative to protect your eyes. During a solar eclipse and even in everyday life, you should never look directly at the sun. Ultraviolet (UV) and infrared rays can burn the retina. Lesions which may be irreversible.
Special eclipse glasses, generally available in pharmacies, are recommended as well as projection observation.
For those who don’t have glasses, the best way is to punch a small slit in a piece of paper and place it over a bowl of water. The sun’s rays will pass through the small hole and it will be visible in the bowl indirectly. At the CDST in Saint-Pierre, we will distribute glasses, but it will also be possible to observe with a solar scope. It is a small slit which will send the light rays onto a screen and we will be able to follow the progress of the eclipse always indirectly.
There are as many solar eclipses as there are lunar eclipses in a year, that is to say seven. But the difference is that a lunar eclipse is visible to half the population while a solar eclipse is only visible to part of the population. To see a total eclipse, you have to be in a small band about 150 km wide. If you’re not there, you only see a partial eclipse. Any eclipses we see in the next century will be partial.
The next total solar eclipse visible in the Antilles should take place on October 17, 2153. Before this date, it will still be possible to observe partial eclipses on January 26, 2028 then on January 5 and July 2, 2038 with two eclipses which will be greater than 90%.
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