Andrew Fraknoi: Two Eclipses of the Sun
Two eclipses of the sun are coming to North America during the 2023–24 school year—an annular (“ring of fire”) eclipse on October 14, 2023 and a total eclipse on April 8, 2024. People in two narrow paths will have the full eclipse experience each time. Everyone else (an estimated 500 million people, including all of us in the Bay Area) will see a nice partial eclipse, where the moon covers a good part of the sun.
Dr. Andrew Fraknoi will describe how eclipses come to be (and why they are total only on Earth), what scientists learn during eclipses, exactly when and where the eclipses of 2023 and 2024 will be best visible, and how to observe the eclipses and the sun safely.
A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.
In Association with Wonderfest.
Everyone who attends this program in person will receive a free pair of safe-viewing glasses for the eclipse (which enable you to look at the sun without eye damage), courtesy of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Fraknoi photo courtesy the speaker' eclipse images from NASA.
The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero
Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States
Andrew Fraknoi
Chair Emeritus, Astronomy Department, Foothill College; Former Executive Director, Astronomical Society of the Pacific; Astronomy and Physics Lecturer, Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University; Lead Author, Astronomy
Gerald Harris
President, Quantum Planning Group; Chair, Technology & Society Member-led Forum, and Member, Board of Governors, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
