Focus at Four: Expert follows up on Eclipse knowledge
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – With coverage right here at KBTX and across the country, it’s easy to see why the solar eclipse is such an important phenomenon.
But how much do we really know?
Liliana Sandoval, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, joined First News at Four today just a few hours after places like Bremond saw totality.
The eclipse involves the moon and the sun’s distance from Earth.
“As the moon moves around Earth right sometimes happens that it gets in a perfect position just to obscure the the sun. Because the sun is much bigger than the moon, but it is actually much farther, right? So this is basically a geometric effect,” Sandoval said.
She also said totality can last longer than the just over a minute we saw in the Brazos Valley.
“The longest that a total solar eclipse can last is 7 minutes. But as we experience it today, for example, we get 3 minutes of admiration in some locations, some 4 minutes. But that depends on where you are located on Earth,” said Sandoval.
She mentioned that experiencing this kind of eclipse is pretty rare and a lot of things have to line up for it to happen.
“To have a total eclipse exactly in the same location, it actually takes more than 350 years. It’s really difficult to have exactly that alignment, let’s say on that specific latitude on Earth. And so we were lucky,” Sandoval said.
For the full interview, click the video player above.
