St. Joseph, Missouri, Aug. 21 (Notimex).- Mexico, by its geographic position, is an excellent place to appreciate the total eclipses of Sun and the next that will occur in that country in 2024, will be spectacular, much better than Monday in the United States, said the astronomer Luigi Pagano.
Pagano is a member of the Sutherland Astronomical Society Incorporated (SASI) based in Sydney, Australia, whose hobby is to pursue these astronomical phenomena around the world.
He and 43 other Australians chose to observe the total solar eclipse of Monday in the community of St. Joseph, northwest Missouri, where the total time, when the Sun was completely covered by the Moon, was two minutes 38 Seconds, one second less than the maximum recorded on the United States.
SASI members have different professions, but their fondness for astronomy unites them, explained Pagano, a high school teacher in Sydney.
“We do not only like to look at the night sky,” Pagano said. “If there is a spectacular eclipse we enjoy it, we have the planets, the stars, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth in perfect alignment,” he explained.
?This only happens when there is new moon, but not all new moons, so it is something spectacular that is worth looking.?
“We spend a lot of money chasing these things, most of us amateur astronomers, this is our interest, this is what we love to do,” he said.
Pagano mentioned that many of the total eclipses are given over uninhabited areas over the oceans and in inhospitable places such as Antarctica, where it is not possible to go to see them, so they are not feasible.
Every two to five years, a total solar eclipse is recorded on an inhabited place on the planet and then SASI members organize to come and see it, Pagano said.
This eclipse, which crossed the United States from west to east, “was excellent because everything here, airports, transportation, facilities, bathrooms … is excellent,” he said.
The duration of the total time of an eclipse is governed by the geographical position of the area that is covered by the shadow of the Moon. At the equator or near the equator it is possible to have up to seven minutes of totality and the time decreases as it moves south or north of the equator.
“That’s why Mexico is in a good position to observe a total solar eclipse. Better than the United States,” Pagano said. The eclipse to be recorded in April 2024 in Mexico, he said, should be spectacular.
Pagano exhorted the Mexicans to observe the eclipse of 2024. “All human beings must see a total solar eclipse at least once in a lifetime,” he said.
SASI members are already aiming to observe the next total solar eclipse. “This will be in two years in South America and we will start planning the trip from tomorrow,” he said.
Then he said: “See you in Mexico in 2024!.
By Francisco Trujillo. Envoy
NTX/I/FTD/JGN/ASTRO16/JCG
