Watching the Sun … Safely
If you didn’t already know about the partial solar eclipse just before sunset Thursday, you’re not likely to have solar glasses at the ready. Do not look at the eclipsed sun for even a moment as it can cause lasting eye damage or blindness. But you can still watch safely with little preparation.
Try projecting the image through binoculars. Cover one lens and aim the other at the sun, pointing the eyepiece toward the floor or a piece of paper until the sun’s orb appears. Bring it into focus, and voila! You may want to use a tripod, and you can use a small telescope in the same fashion.
Another option for watching the sun is a pinhole projector, a perennial science project requiring only two sheets of white paper and a pin. Poke a clean round hole in a sheet of paper. With your back to the sun, hold the pierced paper between the sun and the second sheet of paper until you see the sun’s inverted image projected onto it. Increasing the distance between the two sheets enlarges the image but decreases its sharpness. Or you can get more elaborate using the same principles with a box large enough to put over your head to create a viewing chamber.
Here along Chesapeake Bay, the eclipse begins Thursday at 5pm with the sun low in the west. Alas, it will still be in full swing come sunset at 6:17pm.
The eclipse won’t be your only chance to put a pinhole projector to use. The sun right now is in the midst of a massive solar storm, resulting in sunspots large enough to see with the protected-but-unaided eye.
Sunspots start as massive magnetic bursts deep within the sun that migrate to its surface. While highly charged, this energy is cooler than the sun itself, thus appearing darker than surrounding areas. Once to the surface, the energy flares into space in what are called Coronal Mass Ejections, which can wreak havoc on satellites and take down sections of the power grid. Already the International Space Station has turned to face away from the sun to limit the damage from this solar storm.
Out of all this violence comes beauty, too, in the form of the Northern Lights. So keep a lookout, as a solar storm of this magnitude could make them visible this far south. Learn more at SpaceWeather.com.
The moon returns to view Saturday as a thin crescent very low in the west-southwest. Look to its lower right for Saturn. As the moon waxes into the new week, it shines near the planet Mars.