The total solar eclipse that will take place at dawn this Saturday (4) has a curious aspect: it will be projected mainly in some areas of Antarctica, a continent that is basically not inhabited by humans. “It will be more or less for the penguin to see”, jokes Cássio Barbosa, an astrophysicist at the University Center of the FEI (Faculty of Industrial Engineering).
The phenomenon is expected to start around 4 am, Brasília time, and will last an average of one hour.
Even though there are some researchers on the frozen continent, the main range in which the phenomenon can be seen is not occupied by the main study bases, making it very difficult for humans to observe it.
This type of eclipse that falls in places with little or no population is recurrent. According to Barbosa, “as the Earth is 75% water, it is common to have [esses fenômenos] over the Pacific Ocean and not having anyone to see, for example”.
An eclipse can be of two types — the solar, which is when the Moon passes in front of the Sun and covers the star, and the lunar, event in which the Earth’s shadow is projected over the Moon. The first case can only occur at New Moon, whereas Lunar is possible to happen during Full Moon.
For the phenomenon to take place, it is also necessary, of course, an alignment between the orbits of the Moon, Sun and Earth. Barbosa explains that it’s like creating a straight line that goes through the three.
“A line that leaves the Sun, passes through the Moon and reaches the Earth. In this composition, we have a solar eclipse. […] When the line is Sun, Earth and Moon, the lunar happens”, he summarizes.
Something that explains why the eclipse is not fully visible across the entire planet is the Earth’s rotation, a movement it makes on its own axis. Thus, the instant the eclipse happens will always correspond to a portion of the globe, the one that will be in the position where it is feasible to see the projected shadow.
This aspect that the eclipse is not observable by everyone is also due to the shape of the planet. “If the Earth were flat, the sun would illuminate everyone equally and you would see [o eclipse de qualquer ponto]”, explains Barbosa.
Typically, there are two solar eclipses per year. In June 2021, one happened in the Northern Hemisphere, reaching Greenland, Scandinavia and part of Russia.
For 2022, one is planned for the Pacific Ocean, touching a small portion of South America, and another that will cut across the European, African and Asian continents.
Another curiosity of solar eclipses is the effects they bring to the environment they reach. For example, winds decrease in intensity and temperatures tend to drop a few degrees.
Barbosa cites the case of a solar eclipse he followed in Chile, in which “everyone had to wear coats quickly” because of the cold wave that the phenomenon brought. “The temperature dropped by about seven degrees,” he recalls.
Even so, the astrophysicist points out that, as Antarctica is already a very cold continent, it is likely that the eclipse does not lower the temperature that much.
Another change that is easy to notice during a solar eclipse is the behavior of animals. They usually alter their actions because their instincts indicate that it’s already dark, in the face of sudden darkness.
“If it’s a place with a lot of birds [ou com outros animais barulhentos], all of a sudden, everything is quiet,” says Barbosa.
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