Thread: Solar Eclipse today.. sort of lol

Solar Eclipse: April 8, 2005

Summary - There will be a total solar eclipse next Friday, but unless you're floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you'll have to settle for a partial view. The Moon's shadow will touch down Southeast of New Zealand, and then make its way across the Pacific Ocean, briefly crossing Central America. Most of the South Pacific, and North/South America will see a partial solar eclipse, depending on their distance from the path of totality.

Full Story - No kidding: A total eclipse can change your life.

In the middle of the day, darkness falls. Birds stop singing. The sun's corona pops out and shimmers across the sky. For two strangely-silent minutes, while the moon completely covers the sun, you're spellbound inside the moon's cool shadow. Then, suddenly, reluctantly, you're free again--free for the rest of your life to jet around the world trying to catch another total eclipse.

Total eclipses are serious business. Partial eclipses, on the other hand, are just plain fun.

Get ready for fun. On Friday afternoon, April 8th, people in southern parts of the USA, all of Mexico and much of South America will experience a partial eclipse.

The sky won't grow dark. Birds won't stop singing. And the corona won't make an appearance. During a partial eclipse of the sun, the moon covers only a fraction of the solar disk, taking a curved "bite" out of our star. The sun remains glaring-bright. If you don't know it's happening, you might not even notice.

But there is something to see: the shadows.

Look under a tree. Sunlight beaming through gaps in the leaves make crescent-shaped spots on the ground. Look around the walls of your home or office. You might see crescents projected by slits in the window shades. Windows with cut glass are even better. Their prism-sharp corners bend sunlight and cast rainbow-colored crescents in unexpected places. It's like a treasure hunt.

You can make your own crescents. Lay your left hand on top of your right hand, criss-crossing your fingers waffle-style; hold your hands so that sunlight can beam through the gaps. You'll see a pretty matrix of crescents on the ground. Have you ever made a turkey or a rabbit using hand-shadows? Try it during a partial eclipse; the animal's eye will be crescent-shaped.

Partial eclipses last for more than an hour, so there's plenty of time to play.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the South Pacific, a small number of people on cruise ships will be busy having their lives changed. The eclipse there will be total, with the moon briefly covering all of the sun. Unfortunately, the narrow path of totality does not touch land.

An almost-total eclipse can be seen not far from New Zealand, and in parts of Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Venezuela. In those places, the eclipse is annular. The moon is perfectly aligned with the sun, but does not completely cover it. A little bit of the sun pokes out all around, producing a "ring of fire." Think of the shadows!

Astronomy trivia: Eclipses that are total in some places and annular in others are called hybrid eclipses. The April 8th eclipse is one of these.

The partial phase of this eclipse happens in North America between about 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. EDT. For many people, this corresponds to sunset. Crescent sunsets are pretty, but be careful. Even when the sun is hanging low and dimmed by clouds, it is still dangerous to look at. A brief glimpse through a telescope or binoculars can blind you. Try projecting an image of the sun instead.

A partial eclipse. Totally fun.

I heard about this last night.. goign to *attempt* to see it w/ all the bright lights around.

Caution: Don't Look at the Sun

To look at the Sun without proper eye protection is dangerous.

Unlike a total eclipse of the Sun, concentrating its excitement into a few fleeting minutes, a partial eclipse can be watched in a relaxed manner from wherever one happens to be. Providing proper protection is employed, bservations can be made with or without telescopes or binoculars. However, looking at the Sun is harmful to your eyes at anytime, partial eclipse or no. Most people are under the mistaken impression that when a solar eclipse is in progress that there is something especially insidious about the Sun's light.

But the true danger that an eclipse poses is simply that it may induce people to stare at the Sun, something they wouldn't normally do. The result can be "eclipse blindness," a serious eye injury that has been recognized at least since the early 1900's. About half of the reported victims of eclipse blindness recover their precious quality of eyesight after a few days or weeks. The other half carries a permanent blurry or blind spot at the center of their vision for the rest of their lives.

Public warnings by news media have vastly reduced solar eye injuries at eclipses in the last few decades. After the solar eclipse that crossed the United States on March 7, 1970, no fewer than 245 cases of retinal injury were reported. Of these people, 55 percent suffered permanent impairment of vision. In contrast, after the solar eclipse of May 30, 1984, Sky & Telescope magazine was able to locate only three cases of eclipse blindness in the entire United States. During any direct observation of the eclipse, your eye or must be protected by dense filters from the intense light and heat of the focused solar rays.

By far, the safest way to view a solar eclipse is to construct a "pinhole camera." A pinhole or small opening is used to form an image of the Sun on a screen placed about three feet behind the opening. Binoculars or a small telescope mounted on a tripod can also be used to project a magnified image of the Sun onto a white card. Just be sure not to look through the binoculars or telescope when they are pointed toward the Sun!

A variation on the pinhole theme is the "pinhole mirror." Cover a pocket-mirror with a piece of paper that has a -inch hole punched in it. Open a Sun-facing window and place the covered mirror on the sunlit sill so it reflects a disk of light onto the far wall inside. The disk of light is an image of the Sun's face. The farther away from the wall is the better; the image will be only one inch across for every 9 feet from the mirror. Modeling clay works well to hold the mirror in place. Experiment with different-sized holes in the paper. Again, a large hole makes the image bright, but fuzzy, and a small one makes it dim but sharp. Darken the room as much as possible. Be sure to try this out beforehand to make sure the mirror's optical quality is good enough to project a clean, round image. Of course, don't let anyone look at the Sun in the mirror.

Acceptable filters for unaided visual solar observations include aluminized Mylar. Some astronomy dealers carry Mylar filter material specially designed for solar observing. Also acceptable is shade 14 arc-welder's glass, available for just a few of dollars at welding supply shops. It also used to be widely advertised that two layers of fully exposed and developed black-and-white negative film was safe. This is still true but only if the film contains an emulsion of silver particles. But beware: some black-and-white films now use black dye, which is no longer safe. It is always a good idea to test your filters and/or observing techniques before eclipse day.

Unacceptable filters include sunglasses, color film negatives, black-and-white film that contains no silver, photographic neutral-density filters, and polarizing filters. Although these materials have very low visible-light transmittance levels, they transmit an unacceptably high level of near-infrared radiation that can cause a thermal retinal burn. The fact that the Sun appears dim, or that you feel no discomfort when looking at the Sun through the filter, is no guarantee that your eyes are safe.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...areclipseapril8



What will the Eclipse look like from your City?

What will the eclipse look like and when does it begin and end? That all depends on the geographic location of your city. You can see a graphic preview for over a hundred cities across the southern USA by visiting the following web page which features graphics prepared for the 2005 solar eclipse. Just go to the table for your country of geographic area, find your city in the table and click on it to see an eclipse diagram: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclips...2005city1.html



2005 Solar Eclipse From the USA
The above link takes you to a table of US cities listed in alphabetical order (by state). The table gives a brief summary of the eclipse circumstances as seen at each city and includes the times of start, maximum and end of the eclipse, the magnitude, the altitude of the Sun and the duration of the eclipse. As you click on the name of each city, you will see a figure illustrating the eclipse's appearance at maximum eclipse. A brief table lists the eclipse times as well as other details about the eclipse.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclips...5/PSE2005.html


Viewer's Guide to Hybrid Solar Eclipse April 8

http://forums.bigbigsavings.com/show....php3?t=469834