An annular solar eclipse took place on Oct. 14, spanning from North America to South America. The eclipse was partially visible in California, where members of the Stockton Astronomical Society observed the event from Stockton, Escalon and Manteca. Previously, the last annular eclipse visible from the continental U.S. took place on May 20, 2012.
The Stockton Astronomical Society partnered with Delta College’s Physics-Math-Computer Sciences (PMCS) Club to host a watch party for the eclipse at Delta’s Community Garden.
“It’s super cool that Stockton has an actual astronomical society that can host events like this and help bring the community out, because … I live in Lathrop and we don’t have anything like that. So I think that Stockton is the destination point almost, because they host so many events like this and it’s so open to the public that it gives everyone the chance to learn more about astronomy and to get excited about it,” said Francine Canal, secretary of Delta’s PMCS Club.
Delta and Stockton Astronomical Society provided telescopes and eclipse glasses at the event for viewers to safely observe the annular eclipse, as well as donuts for refreshments. The Stockton Astronomical Society also lends out equipment to well-established members for personal use, allowing them to watch the eclipse at home or other facilities.
“You have a club at Delta College that you can get telescopes and take a look at objects in the night sky; or, like we’re doing today, in the day sky. We have the Delta College group with their telescopes, and we have the Stockton Astronomical Society with our scopes, and I think that’s encouraging for people to get into the hobby,” said Bill Litel, a member of the Stockton Astronomical Society. “Anytime we take these telescopes out, we want to see what detail we can pick off in the, say, galaxies or just the detail that you can see in some of the brighter objects. So that’s what we’re looking at down here in Stockton as well.”
An annular eclipse is a type of solar eclipse where the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth along the farthest point from the Earth. Due to the distance, the Moon appears small and does not fully cover the sun, resulting in the edges of the sun remaining visible from certain angles as a “ring of fire,” as it is often nicknamed. The ring of fire was visible in America where the eclipse’s path spanned a line from Oregon to Texas.
Stockton residents were able to see the partial eclipse as an orange crescent in the sky. The eclipse was visible in Stockton from 8 to 10:40 a.m. When the eclipse was expected to reach its peak around 9:20 a.m, the Sun was blocked by clouds.
“Unfortunately, what happened…was that the solar eclipse was at peak observation point, as in it would’ve covered the maximum amount of coverage; but, then the clouds came and covered it up for us. So that was not great,” Canal said.
The next annular eclipse will occur on Oct. 2, 2024, with Hawaii being the only U.S. state in its path. The next annular eclipse that will be visible in the continental U.S. will occur on June 21, 2039, with only Alaska in its path. The next total solar eclipse will occur on Apr. 8, 2024 from Texas to Maine, the last one visible in the U.S. until the eclipse Aug. 23, 2044 from Montana to South Dakota.
“It’s a humbling thing to actually observe something like this because you realize how small you are. I think that’s also another thing about astronomy and the solar eclipse and everything that has to do with astronomy that really draws me to the subject because … remember that all of this is temporary, all of this is a coincidence, and you really get to be grateful for what you do end up seeing,” Canal said.