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Re: Eclipse today

Posted by Bret B on May 20, 2012, 9:57 am, in reply to "Eclipse today"
187.146.74.149

I was just going to post about this! For us here in La Manz a partial solar eclipse (the moon partially covering the sun) begins about 7:51PM and slowly progresses until sunset at about 8:25. (It is a much better eclipse for those viewers out in the north Pacific and Asia.) I'm having trouble getting the NASA eclipse website (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2012.html#SE2012May20A) to respond, so I don't know how much of the sun will be covered when it sets for us. Maybe 20-30%?

BE CAREFUL VIEWING ANY SOLAR ECLIPSE! Not just for your eyes, but any passers-by especially children will be curious about what you are looking at. Never look directly at the sun if it is at all uncomfortable. You might not even feel infrared damage to your retina. If we're lucky there will be the usual veiling thin clouds and haze towards sunset. But if it's too bright, don't look! Use an eclipse-safe viewing filter, or project the sun's image onto the ground or another flat surface and look at the image. AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING OPTICS LIKE BINOCULARS OR TELESCOPE WITHOUT THE PROPER FILTERS. OK, safety briefing complete

Here are some viewing and projecting tips:

Good overview: http://earthsky.org/space/view-may-20-annular-eclipse-and-june-5-transit-of-venus-safely

Description of the pinhole projector techinque: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/watch-solar-eclipse/

Simple graphic showing a handheld pinhole projector: http://www.eclipse.org.uk/old/pparc_web/pinhole.html
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