Astronomy Picture of the Day 6-10-02

NASA ^ | 6-10-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 June 10

Annular Eclipse: The Ring of Fire
Credit & Copyright: Dennis Mammana (Skyscapes)

Explanation: Today, a few lucky people will see a "ring of fire." That's a name for the central view of an annular eclipse of the Sun by the Moon. At the peak of this eclipse, the middle of the Sun will appear to be missing and the dark Moon will appear to be surrounded by the bright Sun. This will only be visible, however, from a path that crosses the Pacific Ocean. From most locations at most times, including most of eastern Asia and western North America, the Moon will only appear to take a bite out of the Sun. In east Asia, the rising Sun will appear partially eclipsed on the morning of June 11. Simultaneously, in much of North America, the same eclipsed sun will appear to be setting on June 10. Remember to never look directly at the Sun even during an eclipse. An annular eclipse occurs instead of a total eclipse when the Moon is on the far part of its elliptical orbit around the Earth. The next annular eclipse of the Sun will take place in 2003 May, although a total eclipse will occur later this year in early December. Pictured above, a spectacular annular eclipse was photographed behind palm trees on January 4, 1992.

[petuniasevan]

WALLPAPER TIME!!!

Get on the APOD PING list!

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

WALLPAPER OF THE DAY!

[RightWhale]

This shot appears to have taken some serious planning.

[altair]

Wow!

[petuniasevan]

BTW, that pic was taken in San Diego, CA.

[WSGilcrest]

Please include me on your ping list. Thankyou.

[petuniasevan]

Sure will!

[sistergoldenhair]

Beautiful.

[2Trievers]

Don't look up!

Sunday, June 9, 2002	Back	The Halifax Herald Limited
Don't look up! North America prepares for solar eclipse, but eye damage victim has dire warning AP Photo This picture combination shows five stages of a solar eclipse. THE RULES An annular solar eclipse will unfold in the skies across North America on Monday. Some tips for safely viewing the eclipse: - Get two thin but stiff pieces of white cardboard. Cut a small hole in one piece of cardboard so that sunlight can shine through onto the second piece of cardboard. Watch the spectacle unfold on the second piece cardboard. Do not look through the hole at the sun. - Wear welders' goggles with a rating of 14 or higher, which are relatively inexpensive, if you want to look directly at the eclipse. - Specially designed solar filters allow a very small fraction of sunlight to pass through. Look at the sun briefly and then look away while wearing them. By Tara Brautigam / The Canadian Press Toronto - Dr. Stan Riome has a word of warning for anyone planning to take in Monday's solar eclipse: don't. The 79-year-old from southern Ontario permanently damaged his eyesight in 1936, when he and his classmates were let out of class to witness a solar eclipse. Unaware of the risks, Riome, 13 at the time, looked directly at the sun and his vision was forever altered. "When I look with my bad eye, I will see an area and the letters will be wavy," the former clinician and optometrist said in a recent interview. There are no pain receptors in the back of the eye, Riome says, so victims who have damaged their eyes may not know it for days. "If you're ignorant, not knowing any better, goodbye Charlie," he said. "It's gone forever." Astronomy enthusiasts across North America are preparing for the celestial shuffle on Monday. It's called an annular eclipse because the moon is far enough from Earth so that it appears slightly smaller than the sun and does not block it entirely. Weather permitting, those watching can expect to see an orange solar corona or crescent depending on location. It will be possible to see the eclipse throughout most of western and central North America. The view improves as you move southwest. Those in Victoria and Vancouver will have the best vantage point in Canada at 9 p.m. EDT on Monday. Optometrists and astronomy experts echo Riome's warning - those planning to watch the eclipse need to take proper precautions or risk permanently damaging their eyesight. "When they are injured, the first thing they notice is that they're not able to see peoples' faces, they're not able to read," said Dr. Ralph Chou, an optometry professor at the University of Waterloo. "Until the sun turns red, there is still potential for damage." The temptation to sneak a peek at the sun during the eclipse should be avoided unless you're wearing welders' goggles - no matter how fashionable the eyewear. "Ordinary sunglasses are not cool," said John Landstreet, physics and astronomy professor at the University of Western Ontario. "There are no special eclipse shades." More low-tech methods are advised, such as cutting holes in cardboard and projecting the glowing image on to the ground or wall. "It's very cheap but very satisfying," said Paul Delaney, a York University physics and astronomy professor. Annular eclipses, which happen around the world two to three times annually, offer little significance from a scientific standpoint. Nonetheless, some academics are excited. "It's the dance of the planets," Delaney said. "The moon, the Earth, the sun get into this dance where they more or less get into each other's way." It's a dance Riome urges people to avoid. "Go in the house, pull the blinds and look at it on the television," he said.

[2Trievers]

All APODites are invited to the Belvedere Room today to enjoy Coteblanche's thematic homage to the eclipse today.

And if so inclined, to experiment with some homespun verse themselves. I'll post the link as soon as the beautiful lounge opens.

My feeble attempt:

Sky Views

It's the apparent magnitude
that catches your eye first.
As if there is an astrochemistry
taking place. You are dust.
He a gas.

You become an accretion
at the sound of his voice.
At times unable to utter
a single sound in reply.

The apparent magnitude of this
blinding gift from the chaos
keeps you coming back for more.
He a corona. You the eclipse.
Binary systems lost in the universe.

(-;l*&;-)

[2Trievers]

Thanks Cote ... I hope some of the wordsmith-astros here, find an extragalactic way to the Belvedere Room today!

Hugs
2T

[aomagrat]

There's a hole in the sun!

[BlessedAmerican]

These pictures bless me daily. Thank you for your time in posting them. I sent this to many friends today and it will bring a sense of awe to them as well.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Okay...Here goes nothing!

While Waiting for the Big Bang News...An Eclipse!

Dedicated with love to 2Trievers for being a stellar nursery in human form at the moment.

Moon's chords and arcs will occlude rays of straightest perfection from Sol, today...
The penultimate geometric armaggedon between circle and line, bending the eye
away from the REAL TRUTH, unbearable to look upon unprotected.....
It is the understanding that Space is so huge, that man's time of science has stretched such a few
short inches across the miles-long line of time arrowing from the heart of the First Circle.

That First Circle's mathematical point, in protonuclear birth agony, threw out ballistic streams
of atomic debris*. This fertile dark matter, became our planet Earth, formed of Star stuff,
wrapped in warped space, providing the Universe a second point of view located HERE and NOW,
You and I, intersecting the infinite, one-way line of time... our very own platform from which
ephemeral humans can extend their sight, FINALLY to look backward....down millenial years and miles
along the timeline, listening, watching, and searching, waiting for the big NEWS
of how elegantly,
GOD ARRANGED that
MANKIND would come to BE, so long ago, in order
TO REACH US AT LAST!

*(and the expanding, accelerating, insubstantial, space which enfolds and interpenetrates it)
* serves as a footnote...we'll call it a poetic wormhole, since I don't have an editor yet this morning to contradict me|;-D

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[altair]

It's cloudy and rainy this morning! The sun is hidden by thick clouds. I'm going to miss it.

[~EagleNebula~]

"OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD" and the photographer that caught that moment has exquisite taste! Wallpaper? UH HUH!!