Solar Eclipse

Health professionals report cases where people put sunscreen on their eyeballs to watch eclipse

A health professional in California reported cases where eclipse-viewers sought medical treatment because they put sunscreen on their eyeballs to view last week’s solar eclipse. KRCTV.com reported that these individuals applied the sunscreen because they did not have the NASA-approved eyewear. “One of my colleagues at moonlight here stated yesterday that they had patients presenting at their clinic that put sunscreen on their eyeball, and presented that they were having pain and they were referred to an ophthalmologist,” Trish Patterson, a nurse at Prestige Urgent Care in Redding, Calif., said. The Sun also reported that doctors in Virginia have reported patients complaining of applying sunscreen to their eyes. The nurse said that it only takes seconds of staring at directly at the sun to cause lasting damage to the retina.

You really can’t make this stuff up, folks..

Solar Eclipse: The big event is finally here

After months of anticipation, planning and hype, the Great American Eclipse finally arrived on Monday. Americans with telescopes, cameras and protective glasses staked out viewing spots along a narrow corridor from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun Monday in what promises to be the most observed and photographed eclipse in history. Eclipse-watchers everywhere — and millions peered at the sun — fretted about the weather and hoped for clear skies for the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the U.S. in practically a century. The total solar eclipse, which happens around the globe once a year, will last just two and a half minutes, much shorter than other eclipses, according to Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium Director, Neil Degrasse Tyson. “Perhaps a hundred million people will see it—that’s a great thing,” Tyson said…

It was truly amazing!!  If you missed it, you really missed it.  But, you can click on the text above for some photos and videos.  Also, we recommend going to:  http://www.space.com for more solar eclipse goodies.    🙂

Total solar eclipse 2017: 6 best apps for the big event

On August 21, 2017, North America will be in the direct path of a total solar eclipse, which happens when the Moon completely covers the Sun. In the U.S., the path of the total eclipse will extend from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. If you’re not in the relatively narrow 70-mile-wide path of totality, you will see a partial solar eclipse. Click here to see a few of the top apps that allow you to prepare for and follow the eclipse.

Total Solar Eclipse Will End the Day Before It Begins

On Wednesday, the moon will blot out the sun, creating a total solar eclipse that will darken the sky over parts of the western Pacific and Southeast Asia. The spectacle will begin on March 9 and finish on March 8. Yes, truly. That’s because the moon’s shadow will first fall over parts of the Pacific on Wednesday morning local time, and then cross the international date line and appear visible on Tuesday afternoon local time. Total solar eclipses occur when the darkest part of the moon’s shadow, the umbra, encases part of the Earth. Anyone standing where the umbra falls will see the moon engulf the sun for about four minutes. This year, people in parts of Indonesia, Borneo and Sulawesi within a narrow strip stretching about 90 miles wide — the line of totality — will experience a blackout at some point from 7 to 11 a.m. local time. (The total eclipse will occur sometime from midnight G.M.T. (7 p.m. Eastern) to 4 a.m. G.M.T. (11 p.m. Eastern). “The cool thing for those who are going to be in the path of totality is that they are going to be able to see the outer atmosphere of the sun called the corona,” said C. Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist from NASA. The corona will look like flames streaming from behind the moon. “This is only visible from the ground during a total solar eclipse,” he said. Those in Australia, South China, and Southeast Asia as well as Hawaii and Alaska will stand in the shade of a partial solar eclipse when the moon’s second shadow, the penumbra, catches them in its shade. From their perspectives, it’ll look as if some galactic giant took a big bite out of the sun. If you’re one of the billions of people who will not see this year’s eclipse, don’t fret; there are consolation prizes. The San Francisco Exploratorium will live stream the total eclipse from Micronesia on its website. And Jupiter will be at opposition Tuesday, allowing stargazers everywhere to see the planet at its brightest in the night sky without needing a telescope. Finally, for those who live in the continental United States, the next total solar eclipse will pass through the middle of the country in August 2017. Total solar eclipses occur about once every one to two years, the last one being in March 2015. It’ll be the first time in nearly 40 years the spectacle will be visible from the continental United States, and it’s expected to bring in a flood of viewers, so consider stocking up on some protective glasses.

Total solar eclipse, supermoon, equinox: Friday’s celestial triple play

Friday is a huge day for skywatchers, offering a rare trifecta of celestial events – a total solar eclipse, a supermoon, and the vernal equinox. The remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard offered some of the best views of the eclipse, which took place early on Friday and was not visible from the U.S. People shouted, cheered and applauded as Longyearbyen, the main town in Svalbard, plunged into darkness. The skies above the arctic archipelago were clear, offering a full view of the sun’s corona — a faint ring of rays surrounding the moon — that is only visible during a total solar eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the moon lines up between the sun and the Earth. This casts a lunar shadow on the Earth’s surface and obscures the sun. During a partial eclipse, only part of the sun is blotted out. Though some enterprising eclipse-seekers got exactly what they were hoping for, others were less lucky. A blanket of clouds in the Faeroe Islands in the North Atlantic blocked thousands of people from experiencing the full effect of the total eclipse. The Faeroes and Svalbard were the only two places on land where the eclipse was total.

Very cool!     🙂

Solar eclipse, Supermoon, Spring equinox: Friday will see three rare celestial events

As the eclipse plunges the UK and other places into darkness this Friday, two other rare if less spectacular celestial events will be taking place, too: a Supermoon and the Spring equinox. A Supermoon, or perigee moon, happens when the full or new moon does its closest fly-by of the Earth, making it look bigger than it normally does. And the spring equinox refers to the time of the year when the day and night are of equal duration, mid-way between the longest and shortest days. The solar eclipse refers to a phenomenon where the sun and moon line up, so that the latter obscures the former. And while it won’t be affected by the two other events, it is rare that the three events happen even individually. Most of the time, there are between three and six Supermoons a year. There is set to be six in 2015, two of which have already happened. The next will take place on March 20, the day of the eclipse, and the others will come in August, September and October. Eclipses can only happen at new moon, when the moon appears is entirely in shadow. And the spectacular Supermoon images that are often spotted can only happen when the moon is full, since it can only be seen then.

Very cool!!   🙂