Wednesday, May 8, 2013

annular solar eclipse: 10 may 2013

this friday morning there will be an annular solar eclipse.   an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes exactly in front of the sun and covers it up, but not completely.   there will still be a small fraction of the brightly glowing sun around the full new moon, preventing the sky from going that ghostly dark that it does during a total solar eclipse, unfortunately.  (see eclipse video here)

credit: forrest tanaka
the maximum eclipse will be visible across far north australia and out into the ocean, but all of australia and much of oceania will be able to see a partial solar eclipse.  don't forget to wear protective solar filter glasses when viewing!   or else build yourself a simple little device to view a projection of the event.

from sydney, the eclipse will be visible this friday morning from 7:50 - 10:15 am, reaching maximum coverage at 8:58 am.  enjoy!  

map from eclipse-maps.com

UPDATE:  for sunrise shots of the eclipse tomorrow, follow #ase2013 on twitter or watch a live video feed from gerard lazarus here.

3 comments:

C W Magee said...

New moon, not full moon.

Unknown said...

d'oh! thanks, chuck! fixed.

Peregrine said...

There was an annular eclipse visible from Atlantic Canada in 1994. My first year of high school. And I believe it was also on May 10 of that year.