Idahoans should get a pretty good glimpse of an annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. The phenomenon will cross North, Central and South America. In southwest Idaho, skywatchers should be treated to a rather unusual sight (weather permitting) between 9:30 a.m. and noon.
“There will always be a bit of the sun visible all the way around the moon, except for one portion that the moon will cover, which will give the sun an unusual appearance, sort of like a pair of horns or a very, very thin horseshoe,” said scholar and astronomer Dr. Irwin Horowitz, past president of the Boise Astronomical Society.
Horowitz visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about the annular eclipse, Northern Lights, and other noteworthy stargazing opportunities.
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Good morning. I'm George Prentice. There have been so many, well, quite wonderful things to spot in the sky this year, and there's plenty more to come, so we're told, including a partial eclipse. So let's welcome back to the program one of our favorite guests, Dr. Irwin Horowitz, is here, educator, astronomer extraordinaire and past president of the Boise Astronomical Society. Dr. Horowitz, good morning.
DR. IRWIN HOROWITZ: Good morning, George.
PRENTICE: So let's talk a bit about this upcoming eclipse. What can you tell us?
HOROWITZ: Well, the eclipse is going to happen on the morning of October 14th, which is a Saturday here in the southwest Idaho area. The eclipse will basically begin about nine, 930 in the morning. It'll be at its most covered portion of the eclipse about a little bit before 1030 that morning. And by noon, it'll all be over.
PRENTICE: So what is the path? Does it cut southwest Idaho?
HOROWITZ: The path... and first of all, we should note that this is not going to be a total solar eclipse, but an annular solar eclipse. And we'll discuss that shortly. Yeah. But the path itself will pass south of Idaho. Primarily, there's a tiny little corner of southwestern Idaho, maybe about 4 or 5 miles on a side that will just barely be in the path of Annularity. But mostly it'll be through northern Nevada as far as the closest to our area.
PRENTICE: That said, we will be able to see it. So what might we see?
HOROWITZ: We will observe a partial solar eclipse in which the moon will not actually pass directly between the earth and the sun. From our perspective, it'll pass a little bit to the south of our point of view. So there'll always be a bit of the sun visible all the way around the moon, except for one portion that the moon will cover, which will give the sun an unusual appearance, sort of like a pair of horns or a very, very thin horseshoe.
PRENTICE: Could you remind us of how important it is to be safe when looking at an eclipse, partial or otherwise?
HOROWITZ: Absolutely. Unlike a total solar eclipse where it is actually safe to view it without any special filterings during totality, At no point during this eclipse will it be a total eclipse. And so you must always use some kind of solar protection. It could be eclipse glasses. It could be filters on a telescope. It's perfectly okay to look at the sun through a telescope when the telescope has the right filters. Do not look at it without those filters, though. Otherwise you do risk possibly damaging your eyes if you look at the sun without proper filters.
PRENTICE: It's always fun to spend time with professionals such as yourself. So will there be opportunity for public viewings?
HOROWITZ: There are at least two different locations that I'm aware of in the Treasure Valley, where there'll be groups congregating to view the eclipse. One will be hosted by the Boise Astronomical Society. We are planning to be at the Julius Kleiner Park in Meridian that morning. And the other one, as I understand it, will be at Boise State University, hosted by their astronomy professor Brian Jackson. And my understanding is that they'll have the eclipse viewing portion outside of the student union building on campus.
PRENTICE: I must note that I've seen some rather wonderful photos of the Northern Lights on social media and we can still see the Northern Lights. Yes?
HOROWITZ: It depends on the particular conditions and the intensity of the display. It's rather unusual to be able to view them from southern Idaho unless it's a very powerful display. But northern Idaho does have a more a greater likelihood of actually being able to observe the Northern Lights because you're closer to the region where the lights are appearing in the sky.
PRENTICE: What else are you looking at?
HOROWITZ: Well, right now, in the night sky, we still have Saturn well positioned in the south after sunset. And for those of you who are late-night people who like to be outside at night, you'll notice a very bright object rising in the east about midnight or a little earlier nowadays. That's Jupiter. And for the early morning crowd, the folks who like to get up and get outside before sunrise. You'll notice a very bright object in the eastern sky right now, which is the planet Venus. So three of the major planets are all visible. Mars at the moment is not. It's sort of on the other side of the sun right now. And Mercury sort of plays back and forth between the morning sky and the evening sky. Recently had its best viewing in the morning, but it won't be for another few months before it's visible again in the evening. And it's usually kind of low in the sky after sundown.
PRENTICE: Dr. Horowitz, I don't think a day goes by lately when I don't read something about a new discovery or a new image. We appear to be in a golden age of stargazing.
HOROWITZ: Well, there have been many golden ages of stargazing, if you will. And we just happen to be in the latest one. And, yes, we are blessed in terms of the advances in technology that we currently are experiencing.The recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has unleashed a plethora of fascinating images of a variety of astronomical objects. And of course, we're still relying on the Hubble telescope that still provides exquisite images as well. And we're constantly building new facilities both on the ground and orbiting in space. We're visiting different planets and sending back images from those, especially Mars. And we are blessed, I guess, to say that we are living in one of the many golden ages of astronomy.
PRENTICE: And remind us about next year. We've got a total eclipse on the calendar for next year.
HOROWITZ: Yes, the total eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8th. The path of totality passes through central Mexico and then through Texas and then up through the Midwest and towards the Northeast. We will only have a partial eclipse here in Idaho if you are able to travel. My recommendation would be either to try to get to Texas or to Mexico as the weather forecast is most likely to be more favorable the further south you are in April than it would be if you're further north.
PRENTICE: I must tell you that most of my colleagues are very excited about next April, and I'm assuming that that will be infectious as we get closer to that day. And travel agents. Travel agents will most certainly take advantage.
HOROWITZ: I'm sure they will. I remember there was an eclipse that happened in the summer of 1999 that went through Europe. And I actually planned a two-month vacation through Europe designed to observe that eclipse.
PRENTICE: Nice. Dr. Irwin Horowitz, educator, astronomer extraordinaire, past president of the Boise Astronomical Society. And we always look forward to these visits. Dr. Horowitz, thanks for giving us some time this morning.
HOROWITZ: My pleasure, George.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
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