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<\/p>\n\u00a0Total solar eclipses are one of those serendipitous astronomical phenomena of a special time we live in. If you are in Spain on August 12, you won’t want to miss the next one.<\/p>\n
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Total solar eclipses are special. Imagine a giant suspended rock in the sky (the Moon) that just so happens to perfectly block the view of a ball of plasma so large that it would take a jet airliner over 200 days to circumnavigate its equator (the Sun). There’s no such other relationship in the entire solar system, and so far, it looks just as rare in the few places we’ve been able to peer closely at in our Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n
Over the centuries, cultures believed a variety of more fanciful reasons for the occurrence. Many believed the event was a terrifying beast that swallowed the sun in retaliation for someone’s wrongdoings, like the wolf Skoll in Norse mythology (how the Sun recovered after such a trauma remains unclear). Other cultures viewed the event much more positively, with some indigenous North American tribes seeing it as an opportunity for spiritual renewal.<\/p>\n
“A total eclipse of the sun is the most magnificent natural spectacle that a human eye can ever witness\u2026 It is a drama which is provided absolutely free by nature.” \u2013 Helen Sawyer Hogg (American-Canadian astronomer)<\/p>\n
Share your August 12 solar eclipse photos View of the sun via the EUI imager on the ESA Solar Orbiter<\/p>\n If you happen to be in the path of totality for this year’s August 12 event, which basically means most of Spain (you lucky locals), we invite you to comment on this article with a photo of the eclipse and share your story on what brings you out to see it. If we get some interesting photos and stories, we’ll write up a spotlight article for them.<\/p>\n More fun eclipse facts<\/p>\n Fast-forward about half a billion years, and total solar eclipses will sadly no longer be possible. This is because the Moon’s orbit is slowly receding from Earth. The Moon crawls its way farther out at a speedy 3.8 centimeters a year. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but over a ‘measly’ million years, it’ll be nearly 4,000 kilometers farther away.<\/p>\n Traveling through time a bit further than that and you arrive in the year AD 600,002,026 (ie, 600 million years from now). The Sun’s brilliance will increasingly surround the Moon from that point forward, a little bit more each year that passes. Future Sun-gazers will see it as a “ring of fire” (the Sun isn’t actually a ball of fire, but calling it a “ring of plasma” just doesn’t roll off the tongue in the same way).<\/p>\n Just like those North American tribes, let’s look on the bright side. In a scant 50 billion years, the Moon will be free of Earth’s tyranny and roam the galaxy on its own \u2013 assuming the sun doesn’t intervene in about 5 billion years during its red giant phase. It’s a complicated relationship: the Earth, Moon and Sun.<\/p>\n So, with such limited time available before total solar eclipses become a distant memory, take those photos while you can!<\/p>\n To learn more about solar eclipses and how to best prepare for one, check out our article, How to safely photograph a solar eclipse (and why you might just watch it instead)<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the Author: Mathew Anderson is a proud Community Manager for the technology industry and a past visitor to DPReview.com for all his camera needs. He is currently the lead of DPReview’s community and primary communication link between the community and DPReview’s team.<\/p>\n Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases?\u00a0Add DPReview as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.<\/p>\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3177127638-sun_solar_orbiter.jpeg\")
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