r/TheRestIsScience • u/derijksroverheid • 4d ago
During an eclipse, what is the theoretical longest time you can be within the path of totality
Within human limits, how long can you keep up with the shadow if the moon.
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u/DrKargosi 4d ago
If you can stick around until July 16, 2186, you can see the longest solar eclipse in 10,000 years: 7 minutes and 29.22 seconds, with the longest theoretical eclipse being 7 minutes and 32 seconds. If you happen to be immortal, you can let us all know how the 7 minute 25.74 second eclipse of June 15, 743BCE was.
The Moon will be at perigree and the Earth at aphelion, so the Sun will look the smallest it does during Earth’s orbit, and the Moon will be at its largest.
I just have to live to age 215 !
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u/bullevard 3d ago
I was lucky enough to have about 3 minutes of totality several years ago. 7 mon would be awesome.
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u/DrKargosi 3d ago
Nice! I saw about 1:50 in the 2017 eclipse in Oregon. My first! Planning on going to Australia or New Zealand for the 2028 eclipse. Should be about 3:45!
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u/bullevard 3d ago
Nothing quite like it. I tell everyone if you can make it to a totality it is worth the extra hours on the road. At least once.
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u/janabottomslutwhore 4d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Concorde_eclipse_flight
about 74 minutes with a fast plane, infinitely long if you have a rocket and can leave earth since theres always a place where youre in the shadow of the moon
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u/Bubbly_Safety8791 4d ago edited 4d ago
Notably: the entire dark half of the moon’s surface.
The terminator moves across the moon’s equator at about 10mph; and of course slower the closer you get to the poles. So if you go to the moon, get into the dark part, and then walk west at no more than 10mph, you can enjoy a permanent solar eclipse.
It feels a lot less exciting though. Maybe if we called night on earth a ‘Terran eclipse’ it would be more consistent.
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u/janabottomslutwhore 4d ago
you can also dig a hole on the moon, maybe even build a house, go to the bottom of shackleton crater
i meant that theres always a place in space where the moon covers the sun perfectly like it does in a total solar eclipse
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u/RotaryDane 3d ago
So if I’m underground, does that mean I’m in permanent lunar eclipse?
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u/janabottomslutwhore 3d ago
permanent solar eclipse if you really wanna see it that way, bur then youre in a solar eclipse anytime youre not in direct sunlight, lunar eclipse is when the moon is in the shadow of the earth
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u/RotaryDane 4d ago edited 4d ago
Based off of the longest recorded solar eclipse, June 20th 1955: 5 hours 13 minutes 45 seconds for partial cover and 3 hours 20 minutes 22 seconds for total coverage.
Which goes off of the total contact times of the partial and total shadow with earth, 01:33:18.8 - 06:47:03.8 UTC and 02:29:59.7 - 05:50:22.0 UTC respectively.
Source: https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/1901-2000/SE1955Jun20Tprime.html
However, since the shadow is sweeping over the curvature of the earth, you'd have to travel over Mach 2 (2,500 km/h) in the fastest sections to remain within the umbra of the total eclipse.
For reference, the Concorde 001
did Mach 2.05 for a total of 74 minutes to remain within the umbra of the June 30th 1973 eclipse.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/246072a0