Eclipse

Malcolm is our eye in the sky:  “I went out the night of the partial solar eclipse.   I simply put a welder’s lens in front of my camera and took this picture.   I took many … many shots during the eclipse and this is the best one!  ”    Efforts appreciated Malcolm!!

DID YOU KNOW?    On May 20th we experienced an eclipse.    In fact it was an annular solar eclipse.    Annular means:  shaped like or forming a ring … also known as Ring of Fire.    On that day the Moon passed between Earth and the Sun partially – then almost totally blocking the Sun.    The word annular comes into play here because the dark moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the visible disk of the sun, leaving a ring—or annulus—of fiery light around the edges as you can see below.    Speaking of SEE – please keep reading to find out how to view an eclipse, safely.

Phases of Annular Eclipse

Use a professionally manufactured solar filter in front of a telescope or camera, or eclipse viewing glasses.    These will reduce the sun’s brightness and filter out damaging ultraviolet and infrared radiation.

But the safest and easiest way is the pinhole projection method.    Punch a one-eighth to one-quarter-inch hole in a piece of cardboard and use it to create a projection of the partial or annular phases on a wall a few feet away.

Nov 13, 2012: Total Solar Eclipse
Nov 28, 2012: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
The next annular eclipse is on May 10, 2013

SAFETY FIRST, ACCOLADES SECOND.    UPLOAD YOUR PHOTO TODAY SEE IT ON BT AND THIS BLOG TOMORROW.    WE OF THE FRESH AIR PHOTO NATION ARE STANDING BY!