If you live in the United States (or southern Canada!), this Monday, August 21, is going to be a very special day! We are going to have the opportunity to see a solar eclipse from anywhere in the US! I am making this post for two reasons. I want you to be safe while viewing the eclipse. I want you to learn something amazing about our incredible solar system! "What do you mean, be safe?" Just because the sun is blocked out by the moon for a while, it is not safe to look at! You can damage your eyes permanently if you try to look at it without proper protection. This does NOT mean you can use sunglasses. You must use certified protective eyewear. Most large cities should have a place you can go to buy glasses suitable for looking directly at the sun without damaging your eyes. I got a pair for $4 at a local telescope shop. If you do not have the means to get a pair of protective eyewear, you can create a pinhole projector with relative ease using supplies you probably already have in your home. Here is a great video that shows you how. Ask your parents to help with this project, and make sure you face AWAY from the sun when viewing! If you have any of your own ideas or information to share, please do! This is going to be a beautiful and amazing event that you will remember forever. If you are in the United States, I would highly encourage you to take some time to see the eclipse this Monday. Be safe and enjoy it! c0w shamelessly borrows the following info from Wikipedia... On Monday, August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible in totality within a band across the entire contiguous United States; it will only be visible in other countries as a partial eclipse. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon's apparent diameter is larger than the sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide. The last time a total solar eclipse was visible across the entire contiguous United States was during the June 8, 1918 eclipse, and not since the February 1979 eclipse has a total eclipse been visible from anywhere in the mainland United States. The path of totality will touch 14 states (although a partial eclipse will be visible in all fifty states), and 16% of the area of the United States. The event will begin on the Oregon coast as a partial eclipse at 9:06 a.m. PDT on August 21, and will end later that day as a partial eclipse along the South Carolina coast at about 4:06 p.m. EDT.
Heh heh...Our entire school is gonna go outside and watch the solar eclipse through a pinhole projector. c; Imagine that, a bunch of kids out of class on a school day for fifteen minutes...This'll be fun.
Take note: The Eclipse will NOT just be viewable from the US, but it will also be viewable from most of Southern Canada.
Another important note. It is 100% safe to look at the sun and its corona during totality. As soon as the sun reaches totality, take off your eclipse glasses, otherwise you won't be able to see the sun. However, once you see Baily's beads or the "diamond ring effect", put your glasses back on, as it is not safe to view these as parts of the eclipse as the sun's photosphere is visible.
My dad & I didn't get the chance to pick up solar eclipse glasses before they sold out in southern Ontario (where I live). Thanks, c0w for putting this pinhole projector tutorial for those who couldn't buy glasses!!!
My parents got three pairs of glasses, so we're going to watch from our home, where it'll be visible at 70%! Hope y'all have fun if you're going to watch the eclipse, we certainly will!
I really want to see the eclipse, but I'll be on a trip to somewhere where we can only see about %10 of it
I have some more info here if you want to add it in or something like that: http://www.sandlotminecraft.com/threads/solar-eclipse-2017.31983/
My mother is showing people this link, so I thought I'd share it with Sandlot! http://eclipse.scsu.edu/ (it has a live countdown to the eclipse where I'm from, too!)
In 1979, my classes used a pinhole projector to see the eclipse and it worked very well. A few people had welding helmets but I'm not sure if they were the darker plasma "10" ones. We got glasses from Lowes for about 1$ a pair, but they came in a book so three pairs with a book was 5$. Lowes is also providing our county schools with enough quality glasses for the kids to look. We also had to sign permission for our child to go out and look as we trust him to leave the glasses on. I'll be taking my glasses to work, and will probably go out to look at intervals if I'm not deeply busy. Oh, and we are in the 95-ish area, so totally hyped to see it!!
My school's going to do this! We have about 90% totality, but not quite enough glasses... Still, I'm excited. Also, if you don't live in an area where you can see a total eclipse and you can't travel to a place where you can, the next one (in the USA) will be at around April 8, 2024. So next time, you might be able to see a total solar eclipse if you can't this year. I'm not completely sure what other countries can see it, though.
Where I am it's gonna be like 99.8% or something. We got glasses at lowe's too lol. In one county of the state I'm in 40,000+ people are going to one spot to see 100%...talk about traffic jams
Interstate 81 and Interstate 95 in Virginia have already experienced traffic jams from people traveling south.
Ugh, I live in Georgia and so many Northerners are flocking down here to get a better view! Travel is so annoying right now.
Mine willl be above my Geography classroom today... I sit right next to the window. We plan on watching the event online though because we don't have proper eyewear. I encourage you all to be safe.
