College football fans could be treated to a rare sight at the stadium this weekend, depending on where you are in the U.S.
Saturday will feature an annular solar eclipse over North America as well as Central and South America — an event that won’t occur again in the contiguous United States until 2046. Unlike total solar eclipses, when the sun is completely blocked out by the moon, annular eclipses (sometimes called “ring of fire” eclipses) occur when the moon is farthest away from Earth.
This means that the moon can’t completely block out the sun’s light, and it leads to a dazzling effect like the one shown here.
Saturday Oct. 14th is an annular eclipse!
Skies over the Americas will darken as the Moon eclipses the Sun, leaving only a “ring of fire.” The sudden reduction in solar radiation impacts Earth’s atmosphere and can affect radio communications and more. https://t.co/zg8wOwp50B pic.twitter.com/yzhV2qZOnl
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) October 13, 2023
It’s likely the eclipse partially could be seen around the country, but its direct path will take it from the Gulf Coast of Texas across the Southwest and up to Oregon.
SOLAR ECLIPSE TOMORROW: The annular solar eclipse (the path runs from parts of South Texas to Oregon) will be visible in Alabama as a partial eclipse. For Birmingham (and most of Alabama), it begins at 10:38a CT, peaks at 12:08p CT, and ends at 1:43p CT. At the peak 57.5 percent… pic.twitter.com/6lAbRl25Lc
— James Spann (@spann) October 13, 2023
With the peak of the eclipse occurring around 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, it will be following this path over the U.S. in the middle of the early college football games, meaning fans may get to catch a glimpse of eclipse from the stands.
The following games are scheduled to kick off at noon ET and fall within or near the path (50 percent or more visibility) of the eclipse.
- Temple at North Texas (Denton, Texas)
- Georgia at Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Arkansas at Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
- Syracuse at Florida State (Tallahassee, Florida)
None of these cities fall within the eclipse’s direct path, though Denton — a northern city in the Dallas Metroplex — comes the closest and should feature the best views for fans.
So, if you were looking for a reason to tune in to watch the 2-4 Owls take on the 2-3 Mean Green, there you go.
