Posted on 01/31/2009 12:27:31 PM PST by Daffynition
It is one of the most glorious pieces of natural theatre. Assuming you spend your life on the same part of the Earth's surface, you might witness it once - if you are particularly lucky or very long-lived, perhaps twice. But a total solar eclipse is worth the wait. At the height of totality, the fit of sun and moon is so perfect that beads of sunlight can only penetrate to us through the rugged valleys on the lunar surface, creating the stunning "diamond ring" effect.
It is all thanks to a striking coincidence. The sun is about 400 times as wide as the moon, but it is also 400 times further away. The two therefore look the same size in the sky - a unique situation among our solar system's eight planets and 166 known moons. Earth is also the only planet to harbour life. Pure coincidence?
Almost undoubtedly, say most astronomers. But perhaps it is not so much of one as the bare numbers suggest. Our moon is different. The many moons of the large outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - are thought to have originated through one of two processes: from the accretion of a disc of material in the planet's gravity field, in a miniature version of the formation of the solar system's planets, or through the later gravitational capture of passing small bodies. The second possibility is also thought to account for Mars's two small satellites, Deimos and Phobos, the only other moons in the inner solar system.
But our moon is simply too big relative to Earth's own size ..........
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
LOLOLOLOL. Stop it thats making me laugh to hard.
The author was being optimistic in reckoning total eclipses at any point as “once in a lifetime.” I think that Jan Meesus gives the average interval between totality for a point on earth as about 325 years. (It’s a difficult calculation.) However, occasionally some places have two eclipses less than 18 monthes apart. The last total eclipse in New York City was in 1925, for instance.
It’s provocative that Nova Scotia had two eclipses in the early 1970’s either of which was before Carly Simon’s “Your so vain.?
Diamond Ring Effect During 1979 Eclipse (79SE2-4)
The last rays of sunlight shine through deep lunar valleys as the solar corona leaps into view. This eclipse was also noteworthy for the brilliant red solar prominences visible around the Moon's limb.
Total Solar Eclipse of 1979 February 26 (Riverton, MANITOBA) 60mm f/15 achromatic refractor (f.l. = 910mm)
Photo ©1979 by Fred Espenak
Yes, liked the background music too. Definitely went with the video.
The next one which will be visible in the US will be on August 21, 2017, passing from Oregon to South Carolina, followed by one on April 8, 2024, passing from Texas up to Maine.
There is one total eclipse this year, on July 22, a very long one (6 minutes 39 seconds of totality at the best locations), but it will be visible only in parts of Asia and the Pacific.
I read once that on average a particular spot is in the path of a total eclipse once every 360 years.
Totality will occur somewheres around the Land Between the Lake, Kentucky.
Noonish. So bring me a ham sandwich, will ya.
Sit about 1 meter from your screen and hold up your thumb halfway between you and it, look at your thumb, then focus on the image you see just behind it (you can move your thumb forward and back till this occurs), remove thumb.
You should hopefully have combined the two images into a single 3D one.
I know! I know! It's cracker pronounced by an Asian?
That’s pretty neat! Thanks for posting. I knew you could get a 3D image like that but had not heard the tip about using your thumb to set it up.
I am a professional freelance photographer, starving artist in my wife’s language. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I was enamored with stereo pictures. I have an adapter for my Nikon cameras that lets me take stereo pairs. What a blast. Never could figure out how to make money with it, but that’s hardly unique to my career.
I am going to download your moon image and use it to make some similar images from my own pictures. If I have any luck I’ll post a couple for you to try out. I went through a real phase of looking for things to really take advantage of the 3D effect. But then I passed out of that phase, into another similarly titillating but unprofitable phase. This time it was large format printing. I love making posters and have even managed to sell a few.
Thanks for the post! At least this time I’ll be dabbling in something that won’t cost me a fortune since I already have the equipment!
My FIL was a great hobby photographer....and he loved 3D. I recall he had a special camera and viewer for all his shots. It was cumbersome and frankly a pain-in-the-neck to view...but we humored him with all sorts of OOOOOOOOOOOOOOs and AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHs.
I’d be interested in your results!
Look’s great ....I’ll add it to my list. The video was a good tease. I’m such a Brian Greene fan, that I know I’ll enjoy it!
Thank you!
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · | ||
Such an odd coincidence I think.
placemarker
Far side of the moon ‘could have been visible from earth’
Telegraph | 1/21/09 | Kate Devlin
Posted on 01/23/2009 12:23:42 AM PST by LibWhacker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2170107/posts
Cheers!
It wasn't always so and will cease to be so in the future.
“It wasn’t always so and will cease to be so in the future”
Even more interesting. Almost like a celestial alarm clock!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.