Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Mar 29, 2006 0:09:38 GMT -6
Chicago Astronomer Joe,
Thanks for sending the emails with updates and info about upcoming
celestial events. I know you're busy but I have to know something and
I was thinking you would the man to ask. Just to refresh your memory
so you are not thinking, "who is sending me this?" ...you entertained
me (among others) at a business event held at the Planetarium last
summer.
My question. I have been reading about the solar eclipse and I
understand that the best seats in the house are in Brazil, Libya,
Turkey and I believe Japan. It is attacting crowds in these places
and as a result Libya is having their biggest tourist influx ever.
Now, for Westerners to visit Libya, it takes a bit of doing. Makes me
think this must just be spectacular to see, even though it is over in
a jiffy. Would you fly eight hours to see this?
Also, why is it only worth visiting these few countries? I can
understand that perhaps it would be better viewing in countries on a
similar latitude, but why Brazil, and not Chile? Why Libya and not
Morocco. Then it skips all the way to Turkey. What up?
I am quite sure this makes perfect sense, but not to me. I you have a
moment and the desire to explain I would love to hear about it.
Thanks, Anita
P.S. Is anybody in the U.S. going to see anything at all?
=====
Anita,
Yes, I do recall you, and the reminder on where we met stimulated a few brain cells.
I love questions like you have asked, as it makes me think outside of the norm by explaining it, as it not only re-enforces what I learned, but also could help others who might have the same questions.
From the International Space Station, the Moon's shadow falls on the Earth...quite cool!...
"Would you fly eight hours to see this?"
You bet!
I have never seen a total solar eclipse, many partials, but from the accounts I have read, witnessing a total solar eclipse is an experience of a lifetime. From the distance, one can see the Moon's shadow rushing toward you at great speed, and there's nothing you can do about it but wait for it to hit you. As it approaches, everything goes quiet, the birds stop chirping, cows rest on the ground and the air gets cooler and it gets a bit windy. It becomes twilight for a bit, and you can sense that something is about to happen, something extra-ordinary. You look all around you, and an eerie color overtakes your environment, and you see the muted sunlight making ever shrinking crescent patterns on the ground...shining through leaves and other obstructions. You see bright daylight in the far distance all around you, but in your immediate environment it's getting quite dark.
Then all of a sudden and quickly...it happens. The Moon completely slides between you and the Sun and like a lightswitch, it goes dark! People are now whooping, hollering, and yelling with delight. For some, a religious experience, for others it's purely scientific...snapping images and observing the event through scopes...trying to capture and remember this remarkable event. One can only now view the promenances or solar flares off the edges of the sun's disk and if it's a really good one, the corona of the Sun shines like a brilliant crown around the Moon.
It gets a lot cooler and the although it's exhilarating, it's a scary moment. Everything you know that what is supposed to be normal for this time of the day...is not! No wonder the ancients were frightened and created myths to explain the phenomenon.
Then everything happens in reverse and just as quickly. It gets brighter and the sun returns, and you see the Moon's shadow rush away from you at an incredible speed...plunging others in the path with the same experience that you just been in. I understand it's quite a ride!
Yes...I would go in a minute!
"Also, why is it only worth visiting these few countries? I can
understand that perhaps it would be better viewing in countries on a
similar latitude, but why Brazil, and not Chile? Why Libya and not
Morocco. Then it skips all the way to Turkey. What up?"
I believe you are thinking that the Moon's shadow goes in a straight line left to right - east to west, but one has to take into consideration the tilt angle of the Earth's axis, (23 1/2 degrees) and curvature of the Earth... making the shadow line an angled curve.
The Moon is tiny compared with the Earth, and makes a small "Umbral" shadow line...only a few miles wide and you got to be in the center of this shadow to view a complete total solar eclipse. Others outside of the shadow line are in the "Pre-Umbral" shadow, a wider and lighter part of the Moon's shadow, will experience a "Partial" Solar eclipse, which is cool, but not dramatic as a total.
The diagrams shows the path of the total eclipse on the 29th. Now, the Moon always makes a shadow as it orbits the Earth, but only at certain times in it's travel does the shadow make contact with the Earth. When the shadow first makes contact with the "edge" of the Earth, then the show begins. And it looks like it's going to start in Brazil on this one.
"Is anybody in the U.S. going to see anything at all?"
As you can see on the map, the U.S. is out of luck in viewing any of the eclipse.
But on the link below, you can click on a link that will enable you to view the eclipse in real time from a site that will stream the actual event to computers all over the world.
I hope this sheds a better understanding on the mechanics of a solar eclipse and Visit the thread at the Chicago Astronomer on this:
astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=Solar&action=display&thread=1143330155&page=1
Thank you for your note and appreciation of The Chicago Astronomer notices...and write in again soon.
Respectfully,
Joseph Guzmán
The Chicago Astronomer
Administrator
www.chicagoastronomer.com
astronomer.proboards23.com
30 Most Recent Posts: astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=recent
"We are all in the Gutter, but some of us are looking at the Stars"
Oscar Wilde -1854-1900
Thanks for sending the emails with updates and info about upcoming
celestial events. I know you're busy but I have to know something and
I was thinking you would the man to ask. Just to refresh your memory
so you are not thinking, "who is sending me this?" ...you entertained
me (among others) at a business event held at the Planetarium last
summer.
My question. I have been reading about the solar eclipse and I
understand that the best seats in the house are in Brazil, Libya,
Turkey and I believe Japan. It is attacting crowds in these places
and as a result Libya is having their biggest tourist influx ever.
Now, for Westerners to visit Libya, it takes a bit of doing. Makes me
think this must just be spectacular to see, even though it is over in
a jiffy. Would you fly eight hours to see this?
Also, why is it only worth visiting these few countries? I can
understand that perhaps it would be better viewing in countries on a
similar latitude, but why Brazil, and not Chile? Why Libya and not
Morocco. Then it skips all the way to Turkey. What up?
I am quite sure this makes perfect sense, but not to me. I you have a
moment and the desire to explain I would love to hear about it.
Thanks, Anita
P.S. Is anybody in the U.S. going to see anything at all?
=====
Anita,
Yes, I do recall you, and the reminder on where we met stimulated a few brain cells.
I love questions like you have asked, as it makes me think outside of the norm by explaining it, as it not only re-enforces what I learned, but also could help others who might have the same questions.
From the International Space Station, the Moon's shadow falls on the Earth...quite cool!...
"Would you fly eight hours to see this?"
You bet!
I have never seen a total solar eclipse, many partials, but from the accounts I have read, witnessing a total solar eclipse is an experience of a lifetime. From the distance, one can see the Moon's shadow rushing toward you at great speed, and there's nothing you can do about it but wait for it to hit you. As it approaches, everything goes quiet, the birds stop chirping, cows rest on the ground and the air gets cooler and it gets a bit windy. It becomes twilight for a bit, and you can sense that something is about to happen, something extra-ordinary. You look all around you, and an eerie color overtakes your environment, and you see the muted sunlight making ever shrinking crescent patterns on the ground...shining through leaves and other obstructions. You see bright daylight in the far distance all around you, but in your immediate environment it's getting quite dark.
Then all of a sudden and quickly...it happens. The Moon completely slides between you and the Sun and like a lightswitch, it goes dark! People are now whooping, hollering, and yelling with delight. For some, a religious experience, for others it's purely scientific...snapping images and observing the event through scopes...trying to capture and remember this remarkable event. One can only now view the promenances or solar flares off the edges of the sun's disk and if it's a really good one, the corona of the Sun shines like a brilliant crown around the Moon.
It gets a lot cooler and the although it's exhilarating, it's a scary moment. Everything you know that what is supposed to be normal for this time of the day...is not! No wonder the ancients were frightened and created myths to explain the phenomenon.
Then everything happens in reverse and just as quickly. It gets brighter and the sun returns, and you see the Moon's shadow rush away from you at an incredible speed...plunging others in the path with the same experience that you just been in. I understand it's quite a ride!
Yes...I would go in a minute!
"Also, why is it only worth visiting these few countries? I can
understand that perhaps it would be better viewing in countries on a
similar latitude, but why Brazil, and not Chile? Why Libya and not
Morocco. Then it skips all the way to Turkey. What up?"
I believe you are thinking that the Moon's shadow goes in a straight line left to right - east to west, but one has to take into consideration the tilt angle of the Earth's axis, (23 1/2 degrees) and curvature of the Earth... making the shadow line an angled curve.
The Moon is tiny compared with the Earth, and makes a small "Umbral" shadow line...only a few miles wide and you got to be in the center of this shadow to view a complete total solar eclipse. Others outside of the shadow line are in the "Pre-Umbral" shadow, a wider and lighter part of the Moon's shadow, will experience a "Partial" Solar eclipse, which is cool, but not dramatic as a total.
The diagrams shows the path of the total eclipse on the 29th. Now, the Moon always makes a shadow as it orbits the Earth, but only at certain times in it's travel does the shadow make contact with the Earth. When the shadow first makes contact with the "edge" of the Earth, then the show begins. And it looks like it's going to start in Brazil on this one.
"Is anybody in the U.S. going to see anything at all?"
As you can see on the map, the U.S. is out of luck in viewing any of the eclipse.
But on the link below, you can click on a link that will enable you to view the eclipse in real time from a site that will stream the actual event to computers all over the world.
I hope this sheds a better understanding on the mechanics of a solar eclipse and Visit the thread at the Chicago Astronomer on this:
astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=Solar&action=display&thread=1143330155&page=1
Thank you for your note and appreciation of The Chicago Astronomer notices...and write in again soon.
Respectfully,
Joseph Guzmán
The Chicago Astronomer
Administrator
www.chicagoastronomer.com
astronomer.proboards23.com
30 Most Recent Posts: astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=recent
"We are all in the Gutter, but some of us are looking at the Stars"
Oscar Wilde -1854-1900
