NASA to webcast total solar eclipse the morning of Aug. 1
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Thursday, July 31st, 2008
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Mark your calendars. On Friday, Aug. 1, NASA scientists will
broadcast and webcast the next total eclipse of the sun, live from China. Viewers can watch the event
on NASA Television beginning at 6:00 a.m. EST. They can also watch it at the website
for the Exploratorium in San Francisco
starting at 6:30 a.m. EST (click here for a list of times by city).
During a total solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow falls on
Earth. The shadow is cast when the moon passes directly between Earth and the
sun. For a few seconds, the moon blocks the sun’s light. Spectators who live
within regions where the shadow falls will witness the moon blocking out the
majority of the sun’s light.
This particular eclipse will sweep across the planet in a slim
path that begins in Nunavut, a northern province of Canada,
and ends in northern China.
So people in parts of Canada,
northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia,
Mongolia and China
will be able to witness the seconds-long blackout.
When the moon totally obscures the sun — the moment of
totality — the sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona, becomes
visible. The solar corona reaches temperatures higher than a million degrees Celsius
and extends farther than 620,000 miles from the star’s surface. Because the
sun’s surface is brighter than its corona, a solar eclipse is the only
opportunity to see the corona with the naked eye (with proper eye protection. Click here for a guide.)
The last time the solar corona was seen during a total solar
eclipse was on March 29, 2006. Spectators within a narrow corridor beginning in
Brazil and extending across
the Atlantic, northern Africa, central Asia and western Mongolia watched the moon overtake
the sun.
The next total solar eclipse will occur on July 22, 2009. Viewers
in India, China, a handful of Japanese
islands and the South Pacific will be able to watch the sky grow dark as the
moon takes over the sun once again.
Found in: Atom & Cosmos
:Because the sun’s surface is brighter than its corona, a solar eclipse is the only opportunity to see the corona with the naked eye (with proper eye protection.
Actually only a *total* solar eclipse provides the opportunity to see the sun's corona with the naked eye, unless one wants to create an artificial total solar eclipse using a coronograph. Partial eclipses, including annular eclipses, do not allow the corona to be seen. For the record, no protection is necessary during the total phase of a solar eclipse. During totality when the sun's corona becomes visible the sun's bright disc is completely obscured and no dangerous rays can harm the eyes. it is only during the partial phases of a solar eclipse that the eyes can be damaged and usually only if one stares at the sun. Quick glances will usually not cause any serious harm to the eyes.
Speaking of the naked eye it is interesting how the total solar eclipse so distinctly resembles the pupil and iris of a gigantic eye staring down from the sky. But don't just take my word for it, take the word of noted American astronomer Jack Zirker who perceived this striking similarity to an eye in the sky during the 1980 total solar eclipse and was inspired to refer to the total solar eclipse as "the Eye of God". . . I wonder what the odds are that the total solar eclipse would so distinctly resemble our organ of sight just by pure random chance? Dare I paraphrase Carl Jung and suggest that these odds would be represented by an astronomical figure?
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