Solar eclipse will offer rare view of solar system
- added July 01, 2008
- 6 responses
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- JanforGore
- added this
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A total solar eclipse will cut a swath of shadow through Greenland, the Arctic, Russia, Mongolia and China on August 1. And thousands of people will travel to remote locations just to stand in the dark for three minutes -- and maybe perceive the vast size of the solar system.
Locations are rarely convenient, and planning a successful eclipse trip involves specialized maps, astronomical charts, statistical weather data, GPS and optical gear, backcountry camping equipment (perhaps), and a good working relationship with uncertainty.
The reward, though, can be like a short trip into space. The corona itself is a big freakish thing: a feathery halo of streaming particles along magnetic field lines, which look not like nice summer rays but kill-you-dead radiation.
It's also so big and far away as to bend one's sense of scale. At least three planets are usually visible, and this August there will be four: Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Mars.
Locations are rarely convenient, and planning a successful eclipse trip involves specialized maps, astronomical charts, statistical weather data, GPS and optical gear, backcountry camping equipment (perhaps), and a good working relationship with uncertainty.
The reward, though, can be like a short trip into space. The corona itself is a big freakish thing: a feathery halo of streaming particles along magnetic field lines, which look not like nice summer rays but kill-you-dead radiation.
It's also so big and far away as to bend one's sense of scale. At least three planets are usually visible, and this August there will be four: Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Mars.
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- JanforGore
- 5 months ago
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I want one.... an eclipse that is.
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There was a partial solar eclipse here (upstate New York) about 20 years ago. But it just wasn't the same as a total eclipse! The sunlight just turned to a dull gray, and all the birds started to churp and whistle till it was over. I guess the animals knew that something odd was going on.
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That would be an amazing site! I wish I could be there :)
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- Midnight_DevilX
- 5 months ago
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This reminds me of that scene in Apocalypto. Let's go be awed in it's vastness.
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- christopherwalls
- 5 months ago
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Nasa's comprehensive website set up to give current information about the August 1 eclipse. There will be a partial eclipse over North America so it may be possible to at least see something.
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- JanforGore
- 5 months ago
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