Given that the vast majority of my readers are in the US, I waited until the last minute to post about the eclipse tonight, seeing as how it’s happening over Africa and Asia. Also, I’m lazy.
The eclipse starts around 08:30 Universal Time and runs through about noon UT (in 03:30 - 07:00 Eastern US time). Granted that’s a wee bit late at night for us here in the States (stupid Earth, turning its back on the eclipse!), but you can still watch it live on the web.
First, if you’re not sure about what an eclipse is and how they work, then head over to Sky and Telescope webpage which has loads of info.
If you want to watch it over the web, there are lots of resources. Here are a few good ones:
- NASA (yes, NASA)
- The Exploratorium, a great kids science exploration place in San Francisco. For the uber-geeks, the Exploratorium also has a feed that will go into Second Life. Wow.
- The Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California
- Lots more webcams are listed on the Sky and Tel website.
By the way, there is a lot of misinformation about eclipses. For example, there has never been a single reported case, ever, or total, permanent blindness from looking at the Sun. You can be partially blinded, but you’d have to work pretty hard to go totally blind. Still, looking at the Sun without correct protection is not too bright (hahahaha) because you can do some damage. Again, Sky and Tel has a list of ways to view an eclipse safely.
Also, if you’re pregnant, it’s still OK to watch, despite some really weird rumors (bottom of that page).
March 28th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Looks like Nasa TV is going to carry it too!
More Links:
Space.com
http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060328_eclipse_overview.html
and
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12045500/?GT1=7850
March 28th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
“you’d have to work pretty hard to go totally blond”
A fruedian slip or accidental pun?
March 28th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Oops! Fixed. Note that the “i” and “o” keys are next to each other, and a spellcheck won’t catch it…
March 28th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
It will cross southeast tip of Greece, island of Kastellorizo. For those living in Europe, try satellite Hellas-Sat at 12685 V S.R. 13333 FEC 3/4. For the rest,
try :
http://www.solar-eclipse.uoa.gr/english/live
and
http://www.hellas-sat.net/solar.php
March 29th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Well in theory it should be visable here in Israel, but its overcast today, so I’m not going to see anything
March 29th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Too bad I don’t have broadband.
I’m not even going to try to link up with dial-up. I’ve learned that lesson.
March 29th, 2006 at 2:24 am
I’m really looking forward to seeing this; it really is a rare opportunity to see such an eclipse.
March 29th, 2006 at 4:05 am
Only found out about this today, head in the sand as usual, should get a partial from here in Norway but we have solid cloud cover so not much chance of seeing anything today.
March 29th, 2006 at 4:12 am
Chance of a lifetime … It was great! 80% at this part of Greece.
March 29th, 2006 at 5:06 am
I didn’t get to see it, but it wasn’t a full eclipse in my parts anyway. Two friends of mine have travelled to Kastellorizo and hopefully got pictures
March 29th, 2006 at 6:07 am
40% or thereabouts here in Lyon, but overcast skies. Curse you, M0!
March 29th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Jianying says:
March 28th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
“you’d have to work pretty hard to go totally blondâ€
A fruedian slip or accidental pun?
Clearly, Prof. Plait is still thinking about the bunny from two posts ago.
March 29th, 2006 at 6:57 am
And then there was this wrong statement from a later AP wire story: “But the corona’s light can burn eyes.” It’s in a paragraph after a quote from a NASA scientist, but it’s unclear whether he actually said it. Why is it so hard for people to understand? During partial phases, use a filter. During totality, no filter needed, just look — even better, use bincoulars.
March 29th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Wasn’t a bad eclipse from mid-England here. I doubt I can in-line an image here, so I’ll just link to a forum thread where I posted quite a few of them over the course of the eclipse.
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/34709834/m/214003048731
There you go.
March 29th, 2006 at 7:31 am
I also saw it as a partial, from north-east England.
Just for a change, we had very little cloud cover and bright sunshine (even when it was partially eclipsed).
I used a primitive pinhole camera to view the eclipse, so it was only a tiny wee image. But it was still an eclipsed sun!
Doesn’t beat seeing an annular eclipse (and I’ve never seen a total eclipse).
Darn it, why is that word so difficult to type…?!
March 29th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Oh, yeah, and a big thanks to Wayne for the cool pix.
March 29th, 2006 at 8:23 am
Blake Stacey Says:
March 29th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Jianying says:
March 28th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
“you’d have to work pretty hard to go totally blondâ€
A fruedian [Freudian] slip or accidental pun?
Clearly, Prof. Plait is still thinking about the bunny from two posts ago.
I saw that last night and was going to say the exact thing, but I was too busy pouting.
That page you posted is funny:
“moocher astronomer (n) - refers to an observer who comes out to an observing session without a telescope or binoculars of his or her own.”
I have binoculars, but because there are so many amateur astronomers at our observatory, there are a number of telescopes to look through, so I say I’m a “scope slut,” (to be crass for a moment). “Scope groupie” doesn’t sound right.
The eclipse was cool…watched it live online at the Exploratorium site. Wish I could see a total eclipse myself.
March 29th, 2006 at 8:32 am
(Sorry for the poorly constructed post above–thought I spaced it right)
Wayne, great photos!
March 29th, 2006 at 9:23 am
The Exploratorium has kindly archived this morning’s webcast (and ’scope-only feed), for anyone that missed the event. They can be viewed in their entirety from this page.
I think it’s wonderful that coverage of the eclipse has been made so readily available to the public, in real time and after the fact.
March 29th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Phil, I can’t believe anyone would say ( in effect ) that it’s OK to view with the naked eye, any eclipse involving the Sun, even a Total!
Granted the actual totality period has the Sun obscured by the Moon for a relatively short period, damage to the eyesight is possible for the un-initiated, the un-wise and the plain foolhardy, as the Sun appears at the other edge, usually with the brilliant Diamond Ring effect caused by the sunlight shining through the mountains on the limb of the Moon. As for even mentioning Binoculars in tne same sentance as Eclipse ( of the Sun ), it is a totally irresponsible comment.
Having viewed a Total some 25years ago, i.e. with the projected image from a Celestron C90 onto white paper, and ensuring my children were aware of the dangers, I was saddened to learn on return to work that my supervisor did have damage to his eyesight by actually looking at the sun during a Solar eclipse when he was a boy. I had thought he was just slightly cross-eyed, but it was the need to see anything directly ahead as he had a permanent ‘hole’ in his vision, and it was in both eyes.
So please, do not stare directly at the Sun at any time, at least not without proper filters etc. Sorry Phil, but ANY damage to eyesight that could have been avoided is too much for any reason. But then the eclipse is over now, so is this caution too late?
Ivan
March 29th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I’m pretty sure I missed it, which is too bad. I knew I wasn’t on the right side of the world to watch this solar eclipse anyways. I’ll just have to content myself with the memories of the one I was years ago in Fresno. I had two ways of watching it. One was through special glasses that blocked out a lot of sunlight, the other was through some sort of pinhole camera contraption my grandfather built using an old coffee can and some mirrors that was used to project the image of the eclipse onto the side of the house so we could watch it on the porch in comfort.
Some time today I’ll watch the eclipse footage.
March 29th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I’ve taken two eclipse expeditions in my life so far, one to Hawaii to see the Total in 1991 and one to New York State to see the Annular in 1994.
And while we were in NY State, we found out that many,many school children missed this. Not only did schools keep the kids inside but chose to not even let them look outside…no protective solar glasses either!
Sometimes, I wonder that people are a bit over cautious because we have all squinted at the Sun..that is ….everyone who drives and you can’t help it if you are going east at sunrise or west at sunset and it is not cloudy.
Of course, you don’t want to do it all the time either.
Lot’s of good & bad astronomy today as I caught the eclipse but the local Philadelphia Weather Girl said the next one isn’t til 2024…wrong it’s 2017!
March 29th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I was in Vermont during an annular eclipse in 1994. I poked holes though cardboard to project images of the sun. It darkened noticeably outside. It was as if I was wearing shades. I couldn’t help myself from trying to sneak an unprotected glance at the sun. It did no good; it was too bright. I have suffered no ill effects to my vision.
It looks like 2017 will be a good year for the U.S. 2017 eclipse.
March 29th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Eek. All sorts of unsafe solar observing taking place in this AP photo essay.
March 29th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
P. Edward Murray said:
“Sometimes, I wonder that people are a bit over cautious because we have all squinted at the Sun..that is ….everyone who drives and you can’t help it if you are going east at sunrise or west at sunset and it is not cloudy.”
Yes, Ed, but when the sun is close to the horizon, its light gets absorbed and scattered through a lot more atmosphere than when it is high in the sky!
March 29th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
I believe an arc-welding (full-face) visor provides enough protection to be used to observe the sun (but only with NO magnification). I have seen people using a small slab of glass taken from a welding visor to observe an eclipse - I wasn’t sure this was good enough, as a lot of light will diffuse around the edges of it.
March 29th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Thanks for posting some past solar eclipse dates P. Edward Murray and Tim G. I was able to figure out which one I saw from that. It was the July 11 1991 Total. It was the only one that fit the criteria for me to have seen it while visiting relatives in Fresno. No wonder I remember the eclipse but not the year. I was only 12 at the time.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
I saw a few glimpses through the clouds at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. We had 3 solar telescopes set up and handed out solar viewers to everyone there.
We had around 500 people turn up, including about 3 school classes. It’s great that the kids were the most interested in what was going on. Hopefully, we’ve got some future astronomers from this event.
March 30th, 2006 at 11:50 am
But can you still stand an egg on end during an eclipse? With or without bunnies?
March 30th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
It took out TV over here…
Check out:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10375329
April 1st, 2006 at 1:42 pm
I was on the centerline (3.5 min of totality) on the dervish meditation hill above the village Hacibektas in Cappadocia, Turkey. The eclipse was GLORIOUS. There’s no other word to describe it. The event took my breath away.
April 1st, 2006 at 10:18 pm
[b]Amara[/b]
It’s true isn’t it?
I saw one here in Australia a few years ago (actually I don’t remember the date), a few of us were permitted to enter the Woomera Restricted Area and we saw the eclipse in the outback. I laugh at those who went to Ceduna (in South Australia), they don’t know what they missed.
April 5th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Ok, I know several days have passed, but I just had time now to read the posts of the last few days… I went to Egypt with a group of 17 people to watch this total solar eclipse … and it was awesome!
We were very close to the border with Lybia, nearby a small town called El-Sallum and, together with 70000 people that camped in the middle of the desert, we were able to watch a magnificent eclipse. The sky was totally clear and we were so close to the central line that we had almost 4 minutes of totality! The solar corona was fabulous and we could see Venus first and Mercury afterwards. Other people reported seeing Mars and Jupiter. The temperature dropped 5ºC as we approached the maximum of the eclipse and we experience a bit of the eclipse wind. I put some pictures on this website I run with some friends:
http://www.portaldoastronomo.org/noticia.php?id=635
together with an article (it is in portuguese, I´m afraid) I wrote about the event .
In 1999, at a time of another total solar eclipse, I was in England and I couldn´t see the sun as it was completly cloudy. Of course, England, what else to expect?….
This time I did thousands of miles but it was worth as the conditions were perfect. Watching an event like this is something that I recommend to everyone, at least once in a lifetime.
April 5th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Oh, I forgot to say. It is totally fine to watch the sun with the naked eye during the totallity. More… you can do it with binoculars and a telescope.
But only, and only, at that time!!
I did it myself, dozens, hundreds of people did as well. And because it lasted almost 4 minutes we did have time to watch it for quite a long time.
The thing is not to be watching when the total eclipse is about to finish, so you don´t get the “diamond ring” flash effect straight in your eyes. But during the total time, there is no danger whatsoever. Actually, if you keep using your eclipse glasses you won´t see a thing of the corona. The corona is almost 1 million times less bright than the sun photoshere, not much brigther than the full moon, so it´s light it is not dangerous at all. Believe me, Icemith, you can even use binoculars to see the corona and enjoy the full show. Of course, if the eclipse would last just a few seconds I wouldn´t risk getting the flash as the Sun starts to come out from behind the Moon.
But with 4 minutes to enjoy… the show is great!
March 3rd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Trinidad & Tobago 8pm
I’m in Trinidad in the Caribbean .I’m just viewing it ,after my GranMother called to remind me that Pregnant women should not even hold a knife or sissors , or else the baby will born with a Clef lip …. LOL , my ol Granny means well !!
Its Spectular !!!