Feature This week's community question is about eclipses!

[slickstah]

December 13, 1974, a partial solar eclipse. I was in sixth grade, in class, sometime late morning -- I remember wandering out into the hallway and out the back doors to look at it, the teacher shrieking at me to get back in the classroom, all the way.

 

[Catastrophe]

Shame I chimed in at post #25 with a different slant. I know I shouldn't, but will you forgive me just this once if I repeat?

I was just wondering whether any other systems in the Solar System can engage in proper eclipses (as opposed to transits for example).

Any possibilities with Pluto and Charon? Totality?

Cat

 

[amongthestars931]

1978 in my home town of Yakima, Washington. I had just started at UofW, and these grad students found out I lived in Yakima, and I had about 15 math grads crashing on the floor of my mom’s double-wide.

when totality hit, there was this crazy wind that started blowing. Maybe the sudden loss of solar heating?

Probably without knowing it, you described a pretty interesting history. Or is it that I tend to romanticize the 70s,and especially a beautiful place such as Yakima?

 

[amongthestars931]

December 13, 1974, a partial solar eclipse. I was in sixth grade, in class, sometime late morning -- I remember wandering out into the hallway and out the back doors to look at it, the teacher shrieking at me to get back in the classroom, all the way.

LOL I share your belief. The only difference between humans and neardenthals is the fact that we now have way more tools.

 

[Alain Serhal]

Th

​

Howdy, folks! Another week, another question from your friendly neighborhood space nerd Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

For me, I got the chance to call my mother and chat for a while. She reminded me of her favorite story from when I was a child: "the first time you saw a solar eclipse could've been your last! I love you, but goodness you weren't the brightest boy growing up!" She loves this story because using the word "brightest" in the context of a solar ecplise cracks her up

Turns out I was about to stare directly at a solar ecplise (she wasn't kidding about me as a child, folks!) and my mother saved my eyes! Anyway, that was still a great memory for me and the earliest I can remember ever experiencing this incredible phenomenon!

How about you guys? What's your first memory of seeing a solar ecplise?

The first time I saw the total eclipse I felt that the image coming from the eclipse was our galaxy illusion and it is not only a circle of the sun fire. I look forward in the telescope distance apart and I saw the reflecting ora of the galaxy shining on the edge sphere of a dark matter hole as an illusion where the sun and moon disapear from the naked eye of the observer for some moment.
It was like an imagination of the milky way ora reflecting the sun dust of the moon as a mirroring focal point passing the sun and moon.
Till now I am not convinced to what I saw as an illusion if it is right or wrong. But in reality you always saw a circle of enlighted sun that shine in a dark hole of the moon.
Is it the image of our galaxy that reflecting the focal eclipse point through a distance, nobody knows. Sometimes, even the stars could be displaced a little bit from their original places in the total eclipse.

If you see it by the naked eye maybe it will harm your eyes a little bit because of the UV light that could enter the iris.

 

[Catastrophe]

I am really surprised nobody took up my question about Pluto and Charon.

What other bodies might possibly enter the proper eclipse question?

Cat

 

[tlbs101]

The first time I was under the path of a total solar eclipse was in college in the late 1970s in the northwest USA. (I'd have to research to recall the exact date.) Unfortunately, it was completely overcast that day so we only saw the darkness come and go, and the birds freak out and scramble for cover..
The latest solar eclipse I was inline with was an annular eclipse in 2012. My astronomy teacher colleague and I hauled 100 lbs of solar telescopes and filtered telescopes to the top of El Morro national monument for a public showing. I got some good pictures through the eyepiece and my wife played her flute for the crowd in the almost-complete darkness. Her playing, is still my screensaver picture to this day,

 

[Epiphany]

Probably without knowing it, you described a pretty interesting history. Or is it that I tend to romanticize the 70s,and especially a beautiful place such as Yakima?

Hey @amongthestars931, the 70's I romanticize, but Yakima a beautiful place? Well I like open country and sagebrush, but I'm not sure most people do. ;-> Yakima, is called the "Palm Springs of Washington" with some irony.

 

[Jingherng]

Actually I haven't seen a solar eclipse before ...........

 

[Catastrophe]

Well here you are! NASA photos of Pluto Solar eclipse.

Images for NASA pluto eclipse
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Cat

 

[Inger]

​

Howdy, folks! Another week, another question from your friendly neighborhood space nerd Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

For me, I got the chance to call my mother and chat for a while. She reminded me of her favorite story from when I was a child: "the first time you saw a solar eclipse could've been your last! I love you, but goodness you weren't the brightest boy growing up!" She loves this story because using the word "brightest" in the context of a solar ecplise cracks her up

Turns out I was about to stare directly at a solar ecplise (she wasn't kidding about me as a child, folks!) and my mother saved my eyes! Anyway, that was still a great memory for me and the earliest I can remember ever experiencing this incredible phenomenon!

How about you guys? What's your first memory of seeing a solar ecplise?

It was so many years ago,I dont even remember the year but I was an adult.And I had bought glasses to protect my eyes and waited in exitment.And woooow,that was something!!I tried to take a few pics of it and they turned out ok,but did not hhave the best camera or lens to do that with.But the whole experiense was really awesome.

 

[Pogo]

My first solar eclipse was a partial on 20 July 1963 at a picnic at a friend's house. It was partially cloudy that day and was able to observe the eclipse at times when the sun was just able to peek through the thicker clouds. The second partial was 10 May 1994. I took off from work the afternoon to observe and I drove around town with a small solar filter so folks I knew could see it. I traveled to South Carolina to observe the total eclipse of 21 August 2017, my only total. It was awesome. Someone I know asked me why they didn't schedule it on a weekend so others could see it.

 

[Pogo]

Go here to see annular eclipse of Phobos and Deimos on Mars as observed by Curiosity. Youtube has a video of three moons eclipsing Jupiter here. I'll have to calculate if all four can cause eclipses either on Jupiter or on one another.

 

[Pogo]

So, I calculated whether the physical and orbital characteristics would allow solar eclipses by other moons on their planets, all four Galilean satellites of Jupiter easily allows eclipses on the cloudtops of Jupiter, as well as ten satellites of Saturn, all six of Uranus, eight of Neptune, and three satellites of Pluto all have the capability of producing total solar eclipses on their respective primaries.