It is totally safe to watch the total phase of the eclipse without filters. You can permanently damage your eyesight or even go blind. Be careful where you get them from and check if they meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard. If you don’t have an astronomical instrument and you only want to look at the eclipse with the filtered naked eye, get a pair of “ eclipse glasses” (like these) or handheld viewers. You can choose between Baader Astrosolar Film, polymer or glass filters (like this). The filter will always be placed in front of the instrument you are observing through. Do not look at the partially eclipsed Sun without proper filtration. How to view a solar eclipseīefore getting to the photography part, I have to stress the importance of viewing the eclipse in a safe way. I will probably make a final decision one or two days before the eclipse, but I will be prepared to change location, if needed, 6 hours before the eclipse. My main location will be in Western Wyoming, close to the border with Idaho with two alternates: one in Idaho and another one in Wyoming. If possible, visit your main and back-up locations a few days before the eclipse. Keep in mind that it will most likely be impossible to relocate on eclipse day due to high traffic. Watch weather reports starting at least one week in advance and see the trend of the weather in different areas. It would be great to have at least one back-up location in case your main one gets a bad forecast. Another problem might be smoke from forest fires, so keep an eye on those, too. Check out Jay Anderson’s excellent Eclipsophile website for climatological data and updated forecasts. According to secular weather reports, it seems that the best chances for good weather on eclipse day are in the Western half of the US. The sky has to be clear in order to see the eclipse. Then, the only factor that needs to be taken into account is weather. It’s a huge difference between a 98% partial eclipse and a total one. So, what’s the best place to see it?įirst of all, you need to be inside the path of totality. That’s fast, right? Around 2335 hm/h (1450 mph). Copyright: Michael Zeiler The umbra will reach the North American continent, in Oregon, at 17:16 UT (10:16 AM PDT) and, just 94 minutes later, it will leave continental USA, in South Carolina. Click on the image to see a larger version of the map. Note that totality for this eclipse only lasts from 2 minutes on the west coast, to about 2 minutes and 41 seconds at maximum near Carbondale, Illinois, and about 2 minutes and 30 seconds when it crosses the east coast. You must be within the path of totality for the Augsolar eclipse to see the real show. The 2017 eclipse will be seen as total from 14 American states, although it will barely touch Montana and Iowa. The penumbra will cause a partial eclipse visible from a much larger area even the extreme West of Europe will get to see a low magnitude partial eclipse. It will be around 115 km wide in the case of this eclipse. Totality is only seen from a thin path across the globe, where the umbra touches the surface of our planet. The first partial phase happens between contacts 1 and 2 (C1 and C2), totality happens between contacts 2 and 3 (C2 and C3) and then we have another partial phase between contacts 3 and 4 (C3 and C4), when the eclipse ends. Phases of the eclipseĪ total solar eclipse has two phases: a partial and a total one. Otherwise, we have an annular solar eclipse, when a thin ring of the Sun is still visible around the dark disk of the Moon. We also need the Moon to be close to perigee so that it covers the whole disk of the Sun and allows the magnificent corona to be visible. (If we have a Full Moon close to the nodes, we get a lunar eclipse.)īut this is not the only condition needed. So, we need the New Moon to happen close to one of the nodes in order to have a solar eclipse. The points where the orbit of the Moon and the Ecliptic intersect are called lunar nodes. This doesn’t happen at every New Moon, as the orbit of the Moon is inclined at an angle of around 5 degrees to the Ecliptic. If anyone still has doubts, a total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon gets between the Sun and Earth and manages to fully cover the disk of our beloved star. Let’s see what we can do… The solar eclipseįirst of all, let’s talk a bit about the eclipse. And, of course, we want to take photos of it. The shadow of the Moon will sweep across the United States of America, from Oregon to South Carolina. On August 21 2017, we will witness what was dubbed “The Great American Eclipse”. We are less than a lunation away of probably the most advertised total solar eclipse in history. A total solar eclipse has two main phases: a partial and a total one.
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