Archive for Total Eclipse of the Sun

Enjoy the Eclipse, but watch out for the cosmologists and druids!

Posted in Biographical, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , on April 7, 2024 by telescoper

Ahead of tomorrow’s total eclipse of the Sun visible from a large part of the USA, I can’t resist sharing this excerpt from The Times warning about the consequences of a mass influx of people to Cornwall for the total eclipse of the Sun that was visible on August 11th 1999, almost 25 years ago. No doubt there are similar things going around about tomorrow’s eclipse:

I did write a letter to the Times complaining that, as a cosmologist, I felt this was very insulting… to druids. They didn’t publish it.

Anyway, I did get to see the total solar eclipse of 1999, not from Cornwall (where it was overcast and rainy) but from the island of Alderney (one of the Channel Islands). There was quite a lot of cloud cover in the morning of the big event so I was expecting to be disappointed. Indeed, the very start of the eclipse was hidden by cloud and there were groans from the large crowd assembled to watch it. A few seconds later, however, the clouds parted and we got a wonderful view. I remember very well that it seemed to get much colder during totality and an eery wind started to blow. Another thing is that all the birds thought it was night already and started to roost, although it was only around 11am.

You might think astronomers would be a bit indifferent to eclipses because they are well understood and totally predictable. But to experience an eclipse in person has a very powerful effect (or did on me anyway). We may be scientists but we don’t respond entirely rationally to everything. Nor should we.

Here’s a (not very good) scan of a (slightly damaged) picture from that eclipse:

Anyway, tomorrow (i.e. 8th April 2024) the total solar eclipse crosses North America with parts of 15 states able to view it: the eclipse will first appear along Mexico’s Pacific Coast at around 11:07 a.m. PDT, then travel across a swath of the U.S., from Texas to Maine, and into Canada. About 31.6 million people live in the path of totality. The path will range between 108 and 122 miles wide. An additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path of totality.

Do make the effort to see it if you can. It’s a remarkable experience that will live long in your memory. But watch out for the cosmologists and druids!

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The Eddington Eclipse Expeditions and Astronomy Ireland

Posted in History, Talks and Reviews, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , , on December 10, 2019 by telescoper

After a full shift during the day at Maynooth University, yesterday evening I made my way into Dublin to give a talk to a very large audience in the famous Schrödinger Lecture Theatre in Trinity College, Dublin, an event organized by Astronomy Ireland. I have given a number of talks on the topic of the 1919 Eclipse Expeditions during this centenary year, but I think this one had the biggest audience! We adjourned to a local pub for a drink afterwards before I dashed off to get the last train back to Maynooth.

Here are the slides I used during the talk:

This time there was an important addition to my usual talk, courtesy of Professor Peter Gallagher of DIAS. He brought along the actual 4″ object glass used in the expedition to Sobral (Brazil) in 1919. I have previously only shown a picture of it. The appearance of the actual lens drew a spontaneous round of applause from the audience, and I have to admit it was a remarkable feeling to hold a little piece of history in my hand!

Obviously I was careful not to drop this item. It is on permanent display in Dunsink Observatory, by the way, if you want to see it yourself. I hope it made its way back here safely!

After the talk was over I was chatting to a couple of members of the audience when Peter Gallagher took this nice picture actually through the lens:

Picture Credit: Peter Gallagher

I look rather old in this picture. Obviously a trick of the lens.

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The Path of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Posted in The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , on January 6, 2017 by telescoper

I thought I’d share this nice NASA video showing the path of totality of the solar eclipse which will take place on 21st August 2017. This is he determined by the changing position of the shadow cast on the Earth’s surface by the Moon as the Earth rotates beneath it. As you can see the shadow will cross the United States of America from Oregon in the North West to South Carolina in the South East. It even passes over Kansas City on the way, so this promises to be a phenomenon that very many people will experience and enjoy.

Eclipses are not particularly rare: there are at least two every year, but most of these are partial rather than total and it is less common for totality to be witnessed from highly populated areas.

For much more information about the 2017 total eclipse of the sun, see the NASA page here.

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