Nigeria experienced the last partial solar eclipse on February 26, 2017. The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) observed the phenomenon.
The country had on Thursday, September 1, 2016, experienced another partial solar eclipse with slight variations in actual timing across the country.
Nigerians had also witnessed the occurrence of an eclipse 11 years ago, on March 29, 2006, when some religious bodies had attributed it to the divine anger of God on Nigerians while some even saw it as a sign of an impending apocalypse.
Before the 2006 total eclipse, an earlier total solar eclipse took place in Nigeria and along West African coast on May 20, 1947.Solar eclipses have often been seen as or the anger of the gods, but it is believed that the real reason for the erratic occurrence of solar eclipses on Earth may finally have been solved because research has confirmed that a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness.Meanwhile, the die is cast for yet another total solar eclipse after 99 years. The sky will go dark. The temperature will drop. Stars will shine in the middle of the day. For the first time in nearly a century, millions of Americans from coast-to-coast will witness a total solar eclipse. Those who have watched the sun suddenly snuff out say it’s an otherworldly feeling. It can be humbling. It can be spiritual. It can change the course of history.
NASRDA warned that members of the public, pupils and students that they should view the eclipse with specially designed viewing instruments. The agency warned that the eclipse should be viewed with the naked eyes as this could cause permanent damage to human eyes.
The total solar eclipse will be visible in totality within a band across the entire contiguous US; it will only be visible in other countries as a partial eclipse. The last time a total solar eclipse was visible across the entire contiguous United States was during the June 8, 1918 eclipse.
Also, this weekend, the night sky is set to dazzle with up to 150 shooting stars per hour as the Perseid meteor shower (also called shooting stars in this clime) moves into its peak.
The phenomenon comes around every year, all thanks to an icy space rock known as Comet Swift-Tuttle – but, thousands of years from now, that same comet could bring on the worst mass extinction Earth has seen in hundreds of millions of years.Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle completes its orbit around the sun every 133 years, and roughly 2,400 years from now, this will bring it ‘perilously close’ to Earth.
While the likelihood of it slamming into Earth is extremely low, experts say theres a small chance that its orbit will be offset by a ‘gravitational kick’ from Jupiter, causing an impact with 30 times the energy of that which killed the dinosaurs.
For the next 2,000 years, Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle poses little threat to Earth and its inhabitants, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel assures.But eventually, around the year 4479, it will come ‘perilously close’ to Earth, and a gravitational nudge from Jupiter could push it off its course, resulting in a number of possible scenarios.
It could be sent hurtling into the sun, or even be ejected from the solar system, Siegel explains.Or, it could end up plunging toward Earth.The comet is moving four times faster than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, according to the astrophysicist, and the resulting impact would release 28 times as much energy – or, the equivalent of 20,000,000 hydrogen bombs exploding.
In a new post for the Forbes blog Starts With a Bang, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel explains that the sheer size and speed of Comet Swift-Tuttle would set our planet up for major catastrophe if a collision were to happen.
The fast-moving comet is massive; at 16 miles wide (26km), it’s 260 per cent the width of the ‘dinosaur-killer.’But, according to Siegel, Swift-Tuttle’s orbit is no great mystery to scientists, and they’ve already determined where it will be for upwards of the next 2,000 years.
It hasn’t crossed into the inner solar system since 1992, and isn’t set to do so again until 2126.According to Siegel, scientists’ calculations of its orbit show Earth is “100 per cent safe’ from the comet for thousands of years to come – but, in the year 4479, it will come terrifyingly close.
This doesn’t necessarily mean it will strike, Siegel explains, but the possibility does exist.Once the comet makes its close approach about 2,400 years from now, “there’s still a 99.9999 per cent chance it will miss us,” Siegel writes.
No comments:
Post a Comment