Comments on: 2000 years of solar eclipses

By: Ivan

Ivan — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:10:06 +0000

Same image with more detail :

http://www.lpod.org/?p=1090

By: DennyMo

DennyMo — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:31:33 +0000

I guess we’re blessed with solar eclipses to compensate for the Cubs.

I remember watching a couple when I was a kid using the shoebox-pinhole viewer. I’ve also stood under a tree with a piece of paper, the leaves acting as a pinhole work pretty well, too.

By: Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: 11/12/2007 - General Science

Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: 11/12/2007 - General Science — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:09:51 +0000

[...] 2000 years of solar eclipses This map shows spots of eclipse feast and eclipse famine. [...]

By: Palmin

Palmin — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:36:01 +0000

There is a very nice Google Earth overlay that shows all solar eclipses since 1001 (http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=150515, 4.7 MB), this allows for some very nice interactive exploring (the question “which century had the most total eclipses in my area” can easily be answered).

Google Earth Blog has more information about this:
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/01/solar_eclipse_p.html

Cheers

By: NZ Pete

NZ Pete — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:10:05 +0000

24 October 1995 I flew from KL to Kudat on the eastern tip of Borneo to join 2000 other like minded eclipse chasers in a wide spot in the road for 2 and a half minutes of totality. It was worth every cent. The overworked word awsome is uniquely appropriate. Due to the high level of moisture in the air (I’m guessing) the wave of darkening on the ground careening toward us was matched by a deep purplish circle in the air which settled on us at totality. Wow! All around the horizon was left in sunlight. There is no comparison with a ‘partial’. At lease once in your life get on the “track” you will never forget it. A half hour later the clouds closed in and we would have seen nothing. Timing is everything.

By: scienceteacherinexile

scienceteacherinexile — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:51:50 +0000

A few years ago, I traveled a couple hundred kms north to see a total solar eclipse (I am living in South Africa). The roads near Kruger National park were lined with cars of the like minded.
It turned out that there was cloud cover, but it was still AWESOME!!
The birds even ceased chirping for the few minutes of “night”.
Interestingly, you could purchase paper sunglasses to view the eclipse (sort of like 3D glasses but different lenses obviously), but it was widely publicized that you could also view the sun through the foil that is used to package a certain local tea brand. I never checked to see if that was proven safe, but it was definitely publicized.

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:04:46 +0000

Ed Davies says: “Similarly, I hear that old type exposed and developed black and white film was OK but modern B&W films which use the C41 process (I think it is, i.e., that are processed like colour film) also let too much infra-red through.”

Oops, I forgot to comment on that part. It’s the silver in the film that do the filtering. Films using the C41, or most other color processes, chemically remove the silver leaving just the dyes behind.

When I viewed the total eclipse in southern Washington in 1979, I used a 4″ x 5″ piece of Plus-X sheet film as a filter over my Celestron C-90 that I was using for photographs. It worked OK for picture taking, but it’s not an optical device. It produced more like a shadow picture.

- Jack

PS – In my previous post when I said sunspots are sometimes visible to the naked eye, I, of course, meant the naked eye protected by welders glass!