Partial Solar Eclipse: Mon. 6/10

“Hi guys!

Just want to give everybody the heads up on a partial solar eclipse that will be visible in much of the US.

While we are not likely to have much here in Michigan, the West Coast looks to have more than 50-70% coverage.

The light will not dim - I saw the 90%+ annular eclipse a few years ago and the light only got a bit fuzzy.

Tips for viewing: Stand under a leafy tree. The leaves filter the light and show little eclipses on the ground. Find some heavy arc welding glass. Build a pinhole camera. Even partial solar eclipses are cool. Get the right stuff and go for a hike.

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/3128843p-4162348c.html”

“Here's a good tip from my bother in law. During the last one that we had, he told us to hold up a C.D. and look through it, not the hole part, but the "meat" of it. You could see the eclipse perfectly without, I think, no problems, except for this little twitch I've seemed to have picked up since then. :-)

Thanks for the heads up,RL!!”

“For a really simple eclipse-viewing tool, poke a small hole in some construction paper and take it outside. It's easy to adjust the focus, but you have to make sure that you're focusing the beam of light onto a shaded spot of ground.

If you wanna get fancy, you can build your own camera obscura. Take a box, tape a sheet of white paper on the inside, on one of the sides which are perpendicular to the long axis (i.e., one of the short sides of the box, not the top, bottom, or long sides). Then, seal the box up and make it as light-tight as you can with duct tape or something similar. Cut a hole in one of the long sides so that you can see the white sheet of paper, then cut another hole opposite the side with the sheet of paper. Over this hole, tape a sheet of construction paper or cardstock, then poke a hole in that with a pin. Voila! Take it outside, and point the end with the small hole toward the sun. You will see a small dot of light on the white paper. This is the sun. As the eclipse progresses, the dot will change as the apparent shape of the sun changes.”

“Cool, thanks for the heads up!!”

“Not visible on the east coast?!?! Curse you Californians! Curse you all!!!!”

“Like bitpusher said. That is the safest way to view the eclipse. There is a special filter that can be used, but that is very expensive and I have no idea where you'd go to buy one. Any other way is liable to risk permanent retina damage.”

“You can also make your own viewer by cutting a small hole in a 3 x 5 card. Then Tape numerous pieces of film negitive over it. This creates a dark lense that you can view the sun through. If it seems too bright you haven't added enough negitive.”

“Just make sure you're not standing in a large crowd using that method. I was looking at an eclipse that way, 15 years ago or so, we were passing a large sheet of dark plastic material around, and while I was looking at the eclipse, some dickhead jerked it out of my hand and left me staring at the sun with my unprotected eyes.

I still think I should have kicked his @ss, but I was at work and didn't want to get fired for it.”

“The material Geobeet mentioned is Solar Skreen and another is AstroSolar. I bought a sheet and made a filter for my 8" Dob and used scraps and made caps for my binoculars. Works great and yes it's pricey. Pray for clear skies.

http://www.tuthillscopes.com/”

“"...The Eastern Seaboard will miss the eclipse entirely because it will occur after sunset there..."

Argh! It figures, next time.

Enjoy!”

“There's gotta be a web site that will show the eclipse, anyone found it?”

“Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart”

“The eclipse will be lost on Chicago, getting cloudy & storms predicted.”

“Did anyone see it?

Thunderstorms, here. :-(”

“clouds here”

“Perfect weather here in CA. Rigged my telescope to project it on my house - outstanding!! And, contrary to newspaper articles, it WAS dimmer about 10 minutes either side of the "peak".”

“Hope you didn't check out the YWCA down the street, with that telescope. :o)

We didn't see anything here in Quebec...I think the Eastern seaboard completely missed it.”

“I saw it as I was leaving work. I had forgotten about it, and my boss pointed it out. I saw a darkness to the left side. I was blinded for a few minutes. I know, I'm not supposed to look at it!”

“Welcome back S.N...haven't seen you write in, in a while. I missed practically every nite last week due to a virus...the human kind. I'm OK now.”

“The planet got in the way.”

“I usually am lucky, but last night I felt particularly lucky. I decided to escape reality for a while and took my kayak out on the lake. I was headed home, having a really great time, still about 3 miles and downwind from my put-in. I looked over my shoulder to check out the sunset and "Hey! Somebody took a big bite out of the sun!" I couldn't remember when I'd heard there was supposed to be a partial eclipse, but this was unmistakable. The sun was just above the horizon so I could look directly at it. I sat there in the middle of the lake and felt lucky.”

“Science is Hard, <grin>.

Just in case you missed it, here's a total beauty shot of a lunar eclipse from a while back (makes for great 'wallpaper').”

“So, you have the astronomy webpage listed as your website and now this silly article from the Onion.
Just what branch of the scientific tree are you hangin from buddy?

My BS degrees are Math and Physics and I concur that Physics is a good way to bore folks who you meet at parties. After I open my mouth they just want to get away from me.

I'm sorta new here but am really enjoying the posts, both on and off subject of backpacking.

Thanks to all of you for making me stay late at work so I can read your silly stuff sitting in a temperature controlled windowless environment while other folks are out enjoying the sun on their faces.

Uh, I guess there is a downside to sun also..... :^( skin cancer, pooehh, not fun I'll bet.”

“Sorry I did not get this in time to tell you about it but the live webcast site I found out later was at:

http://www.live-eclipse.org/eng/index.html”

“Me? Computer Science with a Math minor. Physics is just a hobby, LOL

If it were in my power, I'd knock out every floodlight on the planet so people could see the stars again. That's *my* pet peeve.

The APOD site is 'my homepage away from home', <G>. How's about that triple exposure!”

“It was one of the most incredible spectacles that I have ever witnessed......well there was that time that I did some Gnarley acid and saw the trees talking to each other and wathced the sun rise from the bottom of the sea...I truely have been blessed by the sights that I have been priveledged to witness.”

“After a weekend backpack, we stayed in Long Valley and woke up to watch this

Christmas Eve morning 2000 ”

“Snow Nymph, for a moment there, I thought you had your back to the Pyramids. Wouldn't that be cool...”