An Age of Magic

Solar eclipse August 1st

July 30, 2008 on 10:50 am | In Magic |

There will be an eclipse of the Sun on the morning of 1 August.  An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, so that the Earth passes into the Moon’s shadow. Along the centre of the track, this eclipse will be total, while areas on either side of the track will see only a partial eclipse.

The eclipse will be total along a line extending from the Arctic, through Siberia, Western Mongolia, and Western China.

In the UK and Ireland the eclipse will be partial, ranging from over 40% in N Scotland to less than 20% in SW England.

In Ireland, the phase averages around 25%. Details are as follows:

 

Location	Starts	Maximum	Ends	Maximum Phase
Cork	09.23	10.07	10.52	22.5%
Waterford	09.24	10.09	10.55	23.4%
Limerick	09.22	10.07	10.54	24.7%
Galway	09.21	10.07	10.57	26.6%
Dublin	09.24	10.11	11.00	26.8%
Dundalk	09.23	10.11	11.01	28.7%
Sligo	09.21	10.09	11.00	29.5%
Armagh	09.22	10.11	11.01	29.7%
Belfast	09.23	10.12	11.03	30.5%
Larne	09.22	10.22	11.04	31.2%
L’derry	09.21	10.11	11.03	31.7%

Maximum eclipse in Ireland will be 32.8% at Malin Head, and the maximum on the UK mainland will be 42.5% in N Scotland.

SAFETY: NEVER look directly at the Sun, even with the unaided eye, as the heat and light can seriously damage the eye. And it is even more dangerous to look at the Sun with any sort of optical aid, such as a telescope or binoculars or even an optical camera viewfinder.

The only safe way to observe the Sun is with a special solar filter, available only from astronomical shops and dealers, or to project the image of the Sun through a telescope or a pair of binoculars onto a piece of white cardboard. Some people may still have special ‘eclipse glasses’ from previous eclipses, and these can be used provided that there are no holes or scratches in them. So long as you play it safe you shouldn’t need to be getting any  term life insurance quotes prior to the big event, LOL.

If in doubt, DON’T look!

Thanks to Terry Moseley IAA for this information.

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