Partial Eclipse on Friday!
This Friday, April 8th, North America is in for a celestial treat that can actually be enjoyed during the day!
The moon will partially eclipse the sun for most of North America between 4pm and 6pm CDT.
NASA Science Article about the April 8th Partial Solar Eclipse
You don't need fancy equipment to safely view a solar eclipse, partial or total. You can easily build a pinhole camera that can project an image of the sun that can be viewed directly.
(image courtesy of ECLIPSE by Bryan Brewer)
If you don't want to go to that much trouble, just stand under a leafy tree!
Trust me!
If you pay careful attention to a tree's shadow during a partial eclipse you'll notice that the normally round "sun specks" in the shadow will have a "bite" missing! The gaps in the leaves of the tree will act a bit like the pin-hole camera above and project an image of the sun on the ground that you can view safely!
This is not something unusual to eclipse time -- the image of the sun is often projected through "pin-holes" all around us, we only especially notice when the round projections have a "bite" missing.
A similar effect occurs if you close the blinds on a window facing a solar eclipse: the holes in the blinds will project the eclipse!
Here's a Sky and Telescope article about the upcoming eclipse: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/eclipses/article_1445_1.asp.
Enjoy!
Dan
The moon will partially eclipse the sun for most of North America between 4pm and 6pm CDT.
NASA Science Article about the April 8th Partial Solar Eclipse
You don't need fancy equipment to safely view a solar eclipse, partial or total. You can easily build a pinhole camera that can project an image of the sun that can be viewed directly.
If you don't want to go to that much trouble, just stand under a leafy tree!
Trust me!
If you pay careful attention to a tree's shadow during a partial eclipse you'll notice that the normally round "sun specks" in the shadow will have a "bite" missing! The gaps in the leaves of the tree will act a bit like the pin-hole camera above and project an image of the sun on the ground that you can view safely!
This is not something unusual to eclipse time -- the image of the sun is often projected through "pin-holes" all around us, we only especially notice when the round projections have a "bite" missing.
A similar effect occurs if you close the blinds on a window facing a solar eclipse: the holes in the blinds will project the eclipse!
Here's a Sky and Telescope article about the upcoming eclipse: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/eclipses/article_1445_1.asp.
Enjoy!
Dan
posted by Dan at 8:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home