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I Thought About Making Travel Plans for the Eclipse—Then I Had a Realization. (slate.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The duration of the total eclipse is going to be about 4 minutes which is going to make it rather a unique experience.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Fun fact: the Sun is 8.3 light-minutes away from Earth, so the eclipse will start with light that left the Sun 8 minutes earlier, and end with light that left it 4 minutes before the eclipse.

If someone were to stand on Earth and send a signal to the Sun saying "hey, the eclipse is starting!"... it wouldn't reach the Sun until 4 minutes after it already ended.

(Edit: typo)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Light is a constant and there isn't gravitational lensing between the Earth and Sun. Any light from the Sun always reaches us at the same speed of roughly 8 minutes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

That's what I said (minus a typo).

(to nitpick however... there is some effect on the timing depending on how the planets align... wonder how a Moon right on its path impacted it)