Latest news with #eclipse
The Independent
a day ago
- Science
- The Independent
An eclipse expert's guide to next year's solar blackout
'It's the first total eclipse in Spain since 1905, and there won't be another one in Iceland this century.' So says Dr John Mason, describing the next occasion on which the moon will fully obscure the sun: 12 August 2026. He told The Independent 's daily travel podcast: 'We have a total eclipse that starts in the high Arctic, goes over the North Pole, down the east coast of Greenland, far northwest corner of Iceland, over the ocean, and then down to Spain and the Balearic Islands.' Only a tiny proportion of the planet's population has ever witnessed a total solar eclipse. The fact that the celestial phenomenon will sweep across northern Spain and reach the island of Mallorca at sunset is exciting for the millions who will be on holiday in the region during the peak summer month for travel. But Dr Mason cautions: 'This is one of the trickiest solar eclipses in terms of weather that I've seen for a long time.' As many people who witnessed the last such event in the UK – Cornwall, 1999 – will remember, cloud cover takes away the magic of a total solar eclipse. The Sussex astronomer has been chasing the darkness for almost four decades. His expertise enables him to select the optimum location to view each eclipse – and to rule out long stretches of the 'path of totality'. Dr Mason says: 'In the high Arctic, Greenland and Iceland, cloud cover is at least 80 per cent and, in many places, over 90 per cent.' The latter represents less than a one-in-10 chance of witnessing the eclipse without overcast skies. The figure improves "up on the high frozen ice cap in the middle of Greenland'. He rates the chance of clear skies as 60 per cent, 'which is not bad'. The other Greenland option is the middle of Scoresby Sound on the east coast – one of the world's largest fjords. 'You could get between 45 and 50 per cent clear, which would be quite good for that area. But as soon as you get to the ocean, then the cloud cover becomes 80, 90 per cent or more.' 'Even in the far northwest of Iceland, where the prospects are just a little bit better, it's still not great. Inland in Iceland, the prospects are slightly better, but the roads there are extremely narrow. I think the Iceland authorities will look very carefully at how many people are going to go there.' The greatest duration for the 2026 total solar eclipse – a relatively short two minutes and 18 seconds – will be just off the coast of northwest Iceland. The track of totality will then sweep southeast across the Atlantic, to the west of Ireland. Dr Mason predicts that many eclipse chasers will be on board cruise or expedition ships in the North Atlantic. But, he warns: 'It's going to be tricky for the captains to find a spot where there is clear weather. Even though the sun is reasonably high in the sky, you've still got the problem of 80-90 per cent-plus cloud cover. 'It next makes landfall in northern Spain, and here the weather prospects increase dramatically.' The centre of the path of totality will first strike Spain over the port of Luarca in Asturias. It will then traverse southeast – passing just south, in turn, of the cities of Oviedo and Burgos. 'Although you have cloud cover, to maybe 50 or 60 per cent along the northern coast of Spain, as soon as you come inland a bit the weather prospects increase dramatically,' Dr Mason says. 'I'm going to be in central northern Spain, where the cloud prospects are much better, but the sun is getting lower and lower in the sky. 'When the sun is low in the sky, you've got a very long path through the atmosphere, and you only need cloud somewhere along that path to thwart your view. 'Where I'm going to be, which is southwest of Burgos, the sun is going to be about nine degrees high at totality. 'That's not too bad. As you go nearer towards the Mediterranean coast, and obviously the sun gets lower and lower, the chances of cloud being in the way increase.' The eclipse track leaves mainland Spain just north of Castellon airport on the Mediterranean coast. But by then the sun will be very low on the horizon – even more so, when it strikes the southwest coast of Mallorca just north of the port of Andratx. Dr Mason holds out the tantalising prospect of 'an amazing view of a totally eclipsed sun hanging above the horizon, looking really large.' 'For a place to view it, you've got to make sure that you're up high and you don't have anything in the way on the land.' If there is to be a Mallorca miracle, it will be best viewed from a location on the sparsely populated southwest coast of Mallorca, rather than a bar in Magaluf – also on the line of totality, but where many obstructions will block the view. Except during the brief spell of totality, viewers of eclipses must use special glasses to protect their eyes. The US National Solar Observatory says: 'During totality, you may view the sun without proper eye protection. 'But during all other phases of the eclipse, you should only look at the sun when your eyes are protected.' Eclipse viewing glasses will be widely available at the key locations on the line of totality. Dr Mason is much sought after by travel firms as a tour leader; Queen guitarist Sir Brian May is among his celebrity clients. The astronomer will be leading his 2026 trip on behalf of New Scientist.
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Fred Espenak, Astrophysicist Known as Mr. Eclipse, Dies at 73
Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist known as Mr. Eclipse who created maps and charts that eclipse chasers like him used to pinpoint the best locations to witness the breathtaking choreography of celestial bodies, died on June 1 at his home in Portal, Ariz., near the border of New Mexico. He was 73. The cause was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, said his wife, Patricia Totten Espenak, known as Ms. Eclipse. The Espenaks met during a solar eclipse in India and danced to Bonnie Tyler's ballad 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' at their wedding. During five decades of chasing eclipses, Mr. Espenak wrote several books about them, notably 'Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses' (2006), a two-volume, 742-page treatise written with the Belgian meteorologist Jean Meeus; operated four websites devoted to celestial statistics, including and witnessed 52 solar eclipses, 31 of which were total. 'When you see a total eclipse, you will realize for the first time what the meaning of awesome is,' Mr. Espenak told Time magazine in 2017. 'Everything else is mundane.' Mr. Espenak saw his first total eclipse in 1970 as a nerdy teenager, driving 600 miles from his home on Staten Island to a grassy field behind a motel in North Carolina. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'This should not be published': Scientists throw shade on study claiming trees 'talk' before solar eclipses
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The idea that trees communicate with each other during an eclipse and synchronize their behavior — as has been widely reported recently — is a compelling one. The fascinating idea sprang out of research detecting bioelectric signals in spruce trees (Picea abies) in Italy's Dolomite mountains during a 2-hour-long partial solar eclipse. But many researchers aren't convinced, saying the number of trees studied is tiny and that there are more plausible explanations for the results. Some 6,600 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level, Alessandro Chiolerio, a physicist at the Italian Institute of Technology, Monica Gagliano, an ecologist at Southern Cross University in Australia, and their colleagues attached remote sensors to three healthy spruce trees — two of about 70 years old and the other around 20 years old — and to five tree stumps. The sensors were there to detect electrical currents created when charged molecules travel through the cells of living organisms. "Our results demonstrated that spruce trees exhibited synchronized changes in their bioelectrical activity in anticipation of a solar eclipse," Gagliano told Live Science. "Remarkably, this synchronization began several hours before the eclipse occurred, suggesting not just a passive reaction to darkness but an active, anticipatory response." "The strongest signs of this early response were observed in older trees, hinting at a memory-like capacity linked to their age and environmental history," she said. "This study provides the first evidence that trees in a forest can behave as a coordinated collective system — functioning more like an integrated network than just as isolated individuals." So, what exactly is going on in this work published April 30 in Royal Society Open Science, and how seriously should we take it? "There is strong concern among my colleagues that this paper was published," James Cahill, a plant ecologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, told Live Science. "The paper doesn't meet what I would say are the basic standards needed for science. Its sample size is three, which is very low and they have a super large number of variables that they're testing — over 10 — and you're always going to find a pattern if you do something like that." Related: Tropical tree in Panama has evolved to kill its 'enemies' with lightning Many plants and animals respond to the day-night cycles of light and dark, so plants responding to approaching darkness shouldn't be a surprise, he said. "If you turn off the lights in a greenhouse or at night, every plant will show reduced water transpiration and reduced photosynthesis. Is that coordination?" asked Cahill. This would also alter their bioelectrical signals, and every biological material has bioelectrical signals, he added, so there's nothing fancy in detecting changes to these. It's also unlikely there's an evolutionary survival advantage to responding to an eclipse, Cahill pointed out, given how briefly and infrequently they occur. Instead, he thinks the plants are responding with capabilities that have evolved for a different reason. "It is very easy to imagine that sensory systems evolved for other purposes that are then hijacked in an eclipse. Plants respond to darkness and an eclipse causes darkness. But it doesn't mean that the eclipse caused the response to darkness." And when it comes to the bioelectrical signals changing before the eclipse rather than during it, there's also a simple possible answer, he said. "Plants have elaborate sensory systems for detecting light and a lot of plants can detect UV light and blue light changes and those tend to come first across the horizon. A lot of plants will start changing their photosynthetic machinery before sunrise," said Cahill. "I'm not sure this is anything different." "It's disappointing that this paper is getting so much press because it's just an idea and there's not much here other than assertion," said Cahill. "This could have been replicated, it should be replicated. There's no understanding of why they are focusing on electrical signals instead of the photosynthetic rate. They also didn't compare this to just night and day, which is the obvious thing to do and that's very worrisome to me." Other researchers approached by Live Science said similar things. "I don't think anything can be concluded from an experiment that does not include replicates," Justine Karst, a forest ecologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, told Live Science. Researchers in the field are also skeptical about the idea that older trees responded more strongly. There are three living trees in the study and there are assertions about young versus old, said Cahill, "but they only have one young plant and it's in a different site. And it's not even young, it's 20 years old." Asked about the small sample size, Chiolerio told Live Science how difficult it was to spend whole days working at almost 7,000 feet above sea level to attach sensors to trees when temperatures go down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius). "Due to the complexity of the field setup — monitoring trees 24/7 in alpine conditions — we focused on a small number of carefully selected individuals. Despite the sample size, the data were robust and consistent across trees and sites," said Gagliano. "Still, this is an early study, and we view it as a foundation for broader research." Karst compared the new findings to experimental studies that seemed to reveal a wood-wide web in which trees communicate and share resources via underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi. She was a co-author of work published in 2023 showing that there was insufficient evidence for the idea. "I hoped that after the wood-wide web fell apart, journalists would be more skeptical about research claiming that 'trees talk'," said Karst. RELATED STORIES —Scientists find the best crops to grow during the apocalypse —'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds —'Alien plant' fossil discovered near Utah ghost town doesn't belong to any known plant families, living or extinct Cahill is in favor of studying plant behavior to probe whether these organisms have cognition — he is doing work in that area himself — but says the level of evidence needs to be very high before claims are made. "How would we test cognition in plants? I'm sympathetic to the idea of a different approach, but papers like this make it really hard to do very strong science in a controversial area," said Cahill. "It's very disappointing because the Royal Society has had a great reputation. But this should not be published." In response to questions about the study's publication, The Royal Society Open Science sent Live Science the following comment. "All research published by Royal Society Open Science goes through thorough peer review before being accepted." They also noted the role post-publication discussion plays in their process. "We encourage academic debate and constructive criticism of the research published in our journals. Any reader is able to submit a comment on research published in Open Science, this will be peer reviewed and published alongside an invited reply from the original authors." Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m. EDT to include comment from the Royal Society Open Science.
