The mainstream media may not have noticed the recent solar eclipse because the totality was not visible in the USA. Parts of Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China got the best show but our friends at NASA didn't miss it. So here is video of the August 1, 2008 eclipse.
OK do you have it in your browser? Orient yourselves.
OK do you have it in your browser? Orient yourselves.
Change photographic filters and we see what romantics call the diamond ring. As the moon blocks more and more of the sun's a small bright "diamond" of sunlight remains. Who could say no to a proposal that includes that ring? (That's a rhetorical question so don't answer. The rest of the questions are not rhetorical so do answer them.)
Now we see the corona in all of its glory. In the past these fleeting seconds were used to study the makeup of the sun and the particles that are cast out toward the planets (Yes, including Earth) and the darkness was used to confirm that the gravity caused by a body as massive as the sun will to attract everything - even the light from distant stars.
What year did that experiment first happen?
What are they measuring these days?
Here comes the diamond ring on the other side... (Will she say "YES!"?)
So what exactly is a solar eclipse? A lunar eclipse? (and there are more names - annular, partial...)
When will the next one happen? When was the most recent one in the past?
Assignment:
1) Define:
a) Eclipse
b) Solar Eclipse
c) Lunar Eclipse
2) When will we see an eclipse in NJ? (Did you see the one earlier this year?)
3) Will it be solar or lunar?
extra: When did the famous experiment with the bending of starlight take place? What theory did scientists expect to support or refute?
be good,
Mr. Hazen
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