By Mike Wall
5/14/2012 1:37:21 PM ET
Skywatchers in East Asia and the western United States should circle this upcoming Sunday on their calendars. That’s when a solar eclipse will block out most of the sun, leaving a spectacular “ring of fire” shining in the sky for observers located along the eclipse’s path.
The event is what’s known as an annular solar eclipse — from the Latin “annulus,” meaning “little ring” — and its full glory should be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific region and some of western North America, weather permitting. At its peak, the eclipse will block about 94 percent of the sun’s light.
Read more HERE
Published on May 8, 2012 by celestialconvergence
A “ring of fire” solar eclipse is coming to the USA this spring. It’s the first annular eclipse visible from the contiguous United States in almost 18 years.
On May 20, 2012, a annular solar eclipse will be visible across the Pacific from the coast of China to the southwestern USA. The eclipse starts on May 21st in China and moves eastwards to southwestern USA on May 20, 2012. Unfortunately the eclipse will be visible only in limited parts of the Earth. Eclipse will be visible in east of China, South Korea, Japan, Pacific and the west of USA and Canada.
Map of the eclipse path, here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2012May20A.GIF
Also check the Google map of the eclipse path, here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012May20Agoogle.html
On the Google map click on your location to see the eclipse times.
Animated map of the eclipse, here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEanimate/SEanimate2001/SE2012May20A.GIF
An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon.
Watch the eclipse live – online!
The Slooh Space Camera will stream live feeds from telescopes in Japan, California, Arizona, and New Mexico, starting at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT). Viewers will be able to snap their own pictures of the eclipse via the website, Slooh officials said. To watch, go to Slooh’s homepage on Sunday:http://events.slooh.com/
This is cool…keep the geek posts coming!
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