Friday, May 18, 2012

Solar Eclipse on Sunday

Dear Readers,

Madame L hopes that if you live anywhere in the southwestern U.S. where the Sunday (May 20) eclipse will be visible, you will make a point of watching it.

This will be an "annular eclipse," not the kind where the moon blocks out the sun entirely, but where the sun will look like a very bright ring around the moon. 



From the ABC News website, here are some sample times and places for viewing:

Eureka, Calif.: 6:28 p.m. PDT
Reno, Nev.: 6:31 p.m. PDT
Grand Canyon, Ariz.: 6:35 p.m. MST
Albuquerque: 7:36 p.m. MDT (note time zone change)
Lubbock: 8:36 p.m. CDT (another time zone change)

A NASA satellite will be watching the eclipse from space. For those of us on Earth, we need to be very careful, as NASA scientists point out every time there is an eclipse: 

"NEVER look at the sun — either with the naked eye or through a telescope or binoculars — without proper filters or other equipment. Serious and permanent eye damage, including blindness, can result," the Space.com site reminds us.

Madame L will be watching, even though in her location she probably won't be able to see the full eclipse.

Happy Sun Day,

Madame L

1 comment:

AskTheGeologist said...

I looked, but it was all in vain. You see, I live in the Pacific Northwest, along with VERY FEW astronomers, apparently.
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