Recent and Upcoming Eclipses
Solar Eclipses:
Solar Eclipses are seen when light from the sun destined to the Earth
is blocked out by the moon! The image to the left shows a total eclipse: when the Sun's light is completely blocked by the moon. During a total eclipse, only the Sun's fiery corona, like a halo of light, is visible.
DATE |
LOCATION |
TYPE |
PEAK |
DURATION |
EXTENT |
2/26/98
9/21/98
2/16/99 |
Indian Ocean, W./N. Australia, (partial in S. Africa, Australia,
Indonesia, Antarctica) |
total
annular
annular |
12.28 pm
9:06 pm
1:34 am |
4 min, 9 sec
3 min, 14 sec
0 min, 40 sec |
104%
97%
99% |
9/11/99
2/5/2000 |
Antarctica |
total
partial |
6:03 pm
7:49 am |
2 min, 23 sec
--- |
103%
58% |
7/1/2000 |
South Pacific |
partial |
2:33 pm |
--- |
48% |
7/30/2000 |
the Arctic, Alaska, N. Russia |
partial |
9:13 pm |
--- |
60% |
12/25/2000 |
Canada, USA, Mexico, Caribbean |
partial |
12:35 pm |
--- |
72% |
A SAFE way to look at an partial eclipse:
You should NEVER look at the sun. Especially with binoculars or a telescope
that aren't equipped with a special darkening filter. Instead, during an
eclipse, you can make an simple device to watch the path of the moon's shadow!
Here are the steps for your Eclipse Viewer:
- Materials: Black contstruction paper, white construction paper
- Punch a hole in the middle of the black costruction paper. You can
do this either with a hole-punch or a thumb tack.
- Put your piece of white construction paper on the ground and hold the
black paper about 12 inches above it so that you can see a single dot of
sunlight on the white paper.
- As the moon moves between the sun and the Earth, a crecent shadow will
cross the light on the white paper.
- Remember, do not look at the sun.. you can see the entire eclipse on
the piece of paper in front of you!
See the timetable for Recent and Upcoming
Lunar Eclipses
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