Near Miss Solar Eclipse

Solar eclipse opportunities happen each month during the New Moon phase, but most of the time, the Moon’s shadow is cast off into space because it is not positioned properly for its shadow to strike Earth. Sometimes there are near misses that create a shadow that can be observed from Earth even if the shadow never strikes the Earth. Near Miss Solar Eclipse. 

I, Ranger David Rose, am a retired US Interpretive Park Ranger from Yosemite National Park, a great location to view the night sky. I am not a formally trained astronomer, however I did enjoy lecturing to the visitors about the night sky. Each month, I used to guide a Full Moon Hike with 100 people up to a mountain top, where I lectured about the sunset and the Full Moon as it rose up over the mountain range. I always pay attention to the night sky.

On June 4, 2019, I was vacationing with a friend on Captiva Island, Florida. This island is on the west coast of Florida and the flat sandy beach offers a clear, unobstructed full view of the setting Sun over the Gulf of Mexico.

Each evening, we would take our folding chairs out to the beach to observe the beautiful sunsets over the water. The sunsets were always predictable, except this one day. Something changed. Something special happened. Something got my attention. Wow! What is that?

We sat and watched the Sun disappear over the horizon and seem to submerge into the water. We continued to sit and observe the colors of the sky as the sky merged with the water and reflected the sunset colors all the way up to our feet at the edge of the Gulf. We were in no hurry to get up and leave this beautiful sight.

Then, I noticed a dark shadow starting to develop at an angle from the location of the Sun over the horizon angling to the south. It started out very faint and gradually became darker and darker over just a few minutes. There was no shadow on or near the ground. I could tell this shadow had to be way out in space. This was not an Earthly event.

After observing this shadow for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, it faded out as gradually as it faded in. I was puzzled. What could create this fleeting shadow? My first thought was a shadow of a ship on the Gulf. I quickly ruled that out. A ship is too small to create a massive shadow like that. Then I thought of a thunderhead out in the Gulf. I opened my satellite app to look for clouds over the Gulf and there were none. It was a cloudless day. What created that shadow over the sky?

Even after we left the beach and went inside, I continued to look through the window out over the water in the direction of the setting Sun for any clue to this sighting. There were no clues. I gave up on finding the source of that huge shadow. In all my excitement about observing that shadow, I never thought to take a photo with my phone.

That next day was the same as all the previous days, we took our chairs out to the beach to watch the sunset. On the walk out to the beach, I was still quietly thinking of that shadow phenomena. We sat in our chairs facing west to enjoy another cloudless sunset evening. 

Suddenly I saw something. I jumped up out of my chair and shouted, “THAT’S IT!!!” I saw just a tiny sliver of a waxing Moon. I realized then that yesterday was a New Moon and the shadow I saw was the shadow of the Moon as a near-miss solar eclipse. Instead of the shadow contacting the Earth, it was projected out into space just missing the Earth. The evening skies were clear, so I was able to clearly observe the shadow. All the necessary conditions to view this event were perfect.

I spent all that evening and the next day trying to find anything online describing this event. I couldn’t find anything. I called a friend of mine who volunteered in Yosemite. He has a wealth of Astro knowledge. I described to him what I observed, but I couldn’t make him understand it. He has some sophisticated Astro software. I asked him to plot the trajectory of the Moon shadow at a given date, time, and location. He was able to provide me very quickly with the image you see here. The angle of the shadow in his software perfectly matched the angle of the shadow I observed from the beach that day.

I didn’t know what to do with this information. Is this a rare event or have people observed this thousands of times? I called the astronomy professor of my local university and shared my experience with him. I don’t think he ever grasped what I was describing to him. He referred me to somebody else. That person didn’t know anything either. I was lost. I didn’t know what to do next, so I did nothing. For years I just put it on the back burner of my life.

Not too long ago, I was watching a science documentary on TV about unsolved science mysteries. One of the segments of the show described a narrow shadow in the evening sky that was projected over a small village in Europe. Someone took a picture of it. No one knew what it was. I stood up out of my chair and said, “I know what that shadow is.” An Astro scientist was interviewed during the segment and the scientist said she checked the eclipse schedule and there was no eclipse scheduled during that event. The documentary declared that this was an unsolved Astro phenomenon. I told the scientist through the TV that she should have checked the phase of the Moon schedule, not the eclipse schedule.

I realized then that I needed to act on my “discovery”. So, here I am today writing this little article for you to read. I’m expecting someone to step up and say, “Oh yeah, that was observed and described back in 1647 by Sir Somebody”. That will be great if that happens, but I have not been able to make anyone understand what I observed. I am a trained certified interpretive guide, so I should be able to relate it to you in an understandable message.

So now you know as much as I do about my experience. I would be interested in hearing your feedback on my experience. I can be contacted at [email protected] Thank you for reading this far.

Ranger Dave Rose