Thursday, October 23, 2014

Partial Solar Eclipse

Later today there will be a partial Solar Eclipse. This will be visible from extreme eastern part of Russia and most of North America.

Depending on where you live you might see the whole eclipse or just part of it. For details on timing go to....

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/

As added bonus there is currently a very large sunspot visible on the sun.

Warning: Always use proper protection when looking at the sun (both to protect your eyes and to prevent damage to equipment like cameras, telescopes, binoculars).


Looking at the sun near sunrise and sunset, when the sun is red is safe. It is not safe at other times, especially when using optical devices like telescopes.


Addendum:

To see photos of this Solar Eclipse see:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.293284324206437.1073741828.260320054169531&type=3

Addendum 2:

The Sunspot mentioned above was responsible for Solar Flares. See this Article from the Wall Street Journal: "Solar Flares From Sunspot Hamper Pilots, Satellites: AR 12192 Has Launched Six Major Solar Flares Toward Earth, Disrupting Navigation Systems and Radio Communications." See:

Monday, October 6, 2014

Lunar Eclipse of October 8, 2014.

There will be a lunar eclipse in a couple days. Observing lunar eclipses are easy, you need to know roughly what time to look and go outside at the right time. If you have a window facing the correct direction you might not need to go outside.

  • If you live in North or South America it will be visible during the morning of October 8.
  • If you live in Asia or Australia it will be visible during the evening of October 8.
  • If you live in Europe or Africa, it will not be visible at all.

The above information is approximate (the location of visibility is somewhat smaller than indicated above), for more detailed information see this web site:

http://www.space.com/27342-total-lunar-eclipse-images-october-2014.html

Addendum:

To see photos of this lunar eclipse see

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.293373774197492.1073741829.260320054169531&type=3