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Total Solar Eclipse at Ceduna, South Australia
moooooooo writes "The total Solar Eclipse on December 4 is fast approaching with Ceduna in South Australia being one of the better places to observe this rare event.
Accomodation was thought to have been booked out but a new site has been set up where you can find more information on the event. Information can be found here and accomodation info is at the bottom of the page. I heard on the radio that they will be setting up a "tent city" for those of us who want to camp out." There's a very impressive eclipse page describing the orbital conditions necessary for an eclipse and listing solar and lunar eclipses coming up.
- The solar-based spectacles, "Eclipse"
- The IDE development kit, "Eclipse"
- The Mitsubishi sports car, "Eclipse"
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
All it means is that you're standing in the moon's shadow. As if standing in the EARTH's shadow half a day on average weren't enough...
staring directly at a solar eclipse is not a good idea..
Now all I need it the airfare to get there, and I'm all set! Oh...I almost forgot...better get permission from the wife...
Damn. She said no. :-(
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
I know everyone here probably knows what an eclipse is, and you all probably appreciate the grandeur exhibited by shadows created with celestial entities.
But I myself wasn't quite sure why Ceduna in southern Australia was a good place to view it. However, after some research, I found the following information:
To witness all that this total solar eclipse has to offer, viewing must be within the narrow path of the moon's umbral shadow, which passes directly over Ceduna.
Although the sun will be partly eclipsed throughout South Australia, and 88% eclipsed from Adelaide, the spectacular effects of this eclipse will not be visible outside the shadow's path due to the intensity of remaining light from the sun.
Even 99% eclipsed gives you much less than 99% of the 'total eclipse experience'!
The bottom line: if you are in your parents' basement at the time, you will miss the total eclipse.
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
Your Mama is so fat that ...
She caused Total Solar Eclipse at Ceduna, South Australia!
Tournament Management Online &
To the owner of a Blue Mitsubishi Eclipse licence plate ERQ-1343, you left your lights on.
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
Are you suggesting that the eclipse will cause *more* harmful radiation to reach Earth? Why?
I understand that the moon may not block much, if any, but surely it can't amplify the radiation.
Is it not silly
to create a camp city
to watch an eclipse?
Don't give me none of this "nature theme" business.
Don't those crazy foreigners know that it's almost WINTER?
The total Solar Eclipse on December 4 is fast approaching...
December 4th is approaching at the same rate it always does. One day per day.
Hey, he said he studied metrology at MIT. So he's gotta be an expert, ya know.
In actuality, I believe he once watched the Weather Channel on a sunny day while staying in a motel near Cambridge.
Hence the qualifications.
<g> (Moderators, in case your physics isn't too fresh, this is "funny", not "informative".)
Didn't you forget all those dangerous, sneaky neutrinos?
So I am out late partying. So late that I get home around sunrise. As daylight breaks I fall asleep. What felt like a few hours later I wake up and it is dark out. It seems I slept the day away. So I go back to sleep. What felt like a few hours later I wake up and it is light out. Now I panic.... How long have I been asleep? As the hangover fades my memory returns and I have missed the eclipse in the span of 6 hours of sleep.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
"First, solar eclipses occur when the moon passes through the path of the earth and the sun..."
;)
So what do you call it when the sun passes the path between earth and moon?
The other option is to head to the Outback Eclipse Festival at Lyndhurst, in the even more stunning Flinders Ranges. This point is further east than Ceduna, so the eclipse should happen even closer to sunset, and the even comprises a chill-out music festival over several days. I live in Adelaide, and I would be heading here rather than Ceduna (although unfortunately I'm saving for a DIFFERENT holiday so I can't afford to make an appearance!)
-"I still believe in revolution; I just don't capitalize it anymore." - srini!
I was in school at Cornell several years ago (1995?) when there was a total-but-not eclipse -- and annular solar eclipse. The one I saw was not quite like that of the link, but it was a very strange event. For several minutes, it was like daylight but not quite; the light was gray and there were bizarre shadows and diffraction effectcs.
So not all solar eclipses are alike. It interests me that the Moon and Sun are so similar is apparent (angular) size. The Moon is unique in the solar system for its enormous one-quarter size relative to its planet.
The link has a 1992 photo and numerous tips and links re eclipses generally.
Hot.
Woohoo! Total solar eclipse on my birthday! Now, if only someone would pay for me to go to Australia for my birthday...
This is why you often see cancerous lumps on the exposed skin of viewers of eclipses mere days after the event has passed.
Hellooooooo! The eclipse causes more harmful rays to reach earth than normal?
More information about the event, including maps can be found here.
Quit Slashdot Today!
One of my favorites shows the 1970 eclipse near total, with a diamond-ring effect". I actually saw that one--it was amazing. When the sky gets dark, the birds figure it's night and go roost in the trees. Beautiful.
Mr. Eclipse also links to Ceduna info, including an animation of the shadow's path across earth.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If you're going to see this, there's a couple of things to remember.
That area is largely arid - it can rightfilly be called desert.
AND
It's summer here.
Temperatures in that area can reach 45C to 50C and water is hard to find outside habitation. Even if you do nothing but lay in your tent you WILL need 4 litres of water per day. You have to drink enough so that you piss clear. (Guide: The darker your urine, the more dehydrated you are)
No, coffee, Coke and Pepsi aren't a substitute for water, even though they have water in them.
No, neither is beer, even if it is Cooper's Sparkling Ale.
More fruitbats in Literature!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Or is it Haily's comet that is the sign of impending doom? egg
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE2002/TSE2 002gif/TP2002-Fig13s.gif
Not meaning to offend anyone that lives in the Ceduna area, but I wonder how many of the thousands of people that are going to have a look at the eclipse REALLY know how far Ceduna is from ANYWHERE. I have been there so I'd just like to tell people to be careful on the roads - fatigue gets pretty bad when you are driving in a straight line for hours on end. My suggestion is to break the trip up into at least 2 days - stop off in Port Lincoln - nice place (and you can see where they filmed the Australian version of Survivor!)
Does this make my brain look big?
All it means is that you're standing in the moon's shadow.
That's CowboyNeal, you insensitive clod!
"Folks just call him Buckethead." -- Les Claypool
"... and everything under the Sun is in tune..."
(Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon)
C|N>K
Not even sunglasses can block the longitudinal waves of harmful gamma radiation, which penetrates the skin and malforms cells into cancerous, replicating destroyers.
Obviously, this has nothing to go with looking at it. And it's even worse without the moon blocking some of the radiation. That's why I've been hiding in a lead-lined room in the basement for the last ten years...
Yup, same thing happened to me. Grade 3. The total eclipse was happening over what was lunch time. They forced everyone to stay in class. Only 1 guy with parental consent was allowed to leave (cuz his dad came to get him). They brought in a TV (you remember those, the big clunky brown TVs with shutters on 6 feet high rollers) for us to watch the eclipse. I still feel robbed.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
I"m surprised no-one has said this yet:
"Wouldn't it be great, if in the future you had a time machine. Then you could go back in time and show up in front of a bunch of neanderthals right before a solar eclipse. Then you could tell them that you were going to put the sun out. When the eclipse occurs, they'd probably try to kill you or something. But then you'd explain about the rotation of the moon and earth and everyone would have a good laugh."
--Jack Handy
Just paraphrasing from what I remember.
Why does it seem that all astronomical events can always be viewed better from Australia and surroundings?
[alk]
too bad it doesn't look like we'll be seeing one of these any time soon :(
[alk]
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I had no idea MIT offered courses in trolling....Nice piece of work though.
Why?
Cool a total eclipse on my 21st birthday, the only problem I cannot leave work to see it in Australia.
The site that the article linked to has a map which shows there will be a big total solar eclipse accross the USA in 2012. :)
Repeal the DMCA!
Watch it on TV dude. Why do want to go all the way there, just to get blind? Whats the big deal?
If you're in with the ravers, the Outback Eclipse Festival 2002 at Lyndhurst is a 4-day music festival celebrating the eclipse.
From inthemix.com, "Day will turn into night as the moon passes directly in front of the sun. This will be the best viewing point in the world to see this 100% solar eclipse."
"Over 50 international and local live acts and DJs, performing artists, crazy installations, mega shade, free drinking water, chillout village featuring geodesic domes." See you there.
To those who take his advise, please also make sure you don't ingest any Di-Hydro Monoxide. :)
Mundane astrology. Before you start laughing think, read, learn. History has been shaped by Tetrabiblos.
Viewing the eclipse is dangerous. Here is a dated article about the solar eclipse, most relevant is the material towards the bottom of the page on how to build A Projection Camera or a Solar Filter to view the eclipse safely. Furthermore there are other methods discussed above on viewing the eclipse safety. It also states the Sun causes the eye damage and emits the radiation, not the eclipse.
This article would seem to indicate that the sun does not emit more radiation as eluded to by other posts during the eclipse, but rather it is dangerous because you can look at it longer. If you stare at the normal sun your eyes start to hurt from the brightness, and you either close them or turn away after a short time. During the eclipse it isn't as bright so you can keep looking and the normal radiation emitted by the sun is exposed to your eyes for longer. This is from the black part that your eyes can fixate at. This is also the partial eclipse when part of the sun is still exposed.
Additionally the topic of eclipses was discussed not too long ago on slashdot here And there are comments on the same thing of the eclipse burning the retina and so fourth. Consensus seems to be that the sun is no more dangerous during the partial eclipse, but we just look at it more than usual because it is an eclipse.
"I study meterology at MIT [mit.edu], so I feel that . . . "
."
"I own a chain of stores here in London, and after several meetings with lower management, . . . "
"Seriously. I've noticed this too, lately, as I work for a small Verizon Wireless store . .
Oh how the mighty have fallen. If you're going to make up stories at least make sure your past stories agree. Or at least are not so accessible.
Stoptional
LOL!!! best pun yet on /. mod up!!
You can get inexpensive eclipse viewing glasses at
/////ANDRE
http://www.rainbowsymphony.com
Still time to order.
Bye,
This time, from where I work, yet another 2002 eclipse website
They plan on having a live braodcast, but somehow I don't think that will work.
Im actually heading there a few days before. A bunch of us are flying over in a 4 seater twin-prop airplane.
The best thing is we managed to find accomodation in Ceduna - a 3 bedroom beachfront cabin!
I gloat over the suckers cramming into the tent city with no plumbing or facilities.. apparently there is supposed to be 15000-20000 people turning up.. i wouldnt want to be any part of that in a 30-40degree day.
My question is about cameras. Would pointing a digital still camera, or even a normal video camera at the sun hurt the ccd?
Does anyone know if there is a reason that the size and distance from the earth of the moon creates almost a perfect match to make an eclipse? or is it literally just coincidence?
Actually, a good peice of advice from my Physics lecturer while we were discussing filters for telescopes and whatnot - if you do want to venture out and take a squiz at the event, failing everything else, a pair of welding goggles will do the trick if you wish to look directly at the sun.
--- perl -e 'printf("%s\n", pack "H*", "7369670a676f6c677940676f6c67792e6e65740a2f736967")'
the eclipse also moves over africa. the best place to watch it from, is at the very top of south africa, near the border to zimbabwe. december is malaria time.
it'll probably be cheaper and faster than travelling to australia.
I've had this trip planned for years since I first heard that the eclipse was happening.
I'll be going down in a big convoy of uni students (from Newcastle on the east coast, take us 3 days of driving).
The best place to see it will be in Lyndhurst, which is seriously in the middle of nowhere.
It's a town of 30 people surrounded by barren desert. The 'tent city' is actually going to be a giant music festival lasting 3 days that's in the middle of a meteor crater.
It's going to be mad, with wacked out hippies, astronomer nerds and gerneral freaks going wild in the desert sands.
Events even include the Worlds Biggest Twister Game So 3 days of fun and great music and then to finish it all off the moon will block the sun. Man, you will seriously never find a better party on earth!
I'm a tenth level vice-president!
I'll just look out my window. ;) But on the east coast where it's cooler and there are fewer ugg boot wearing westies. But, good luck in that Buddy Holly killin plane. hehe
And, yes, pointing a ccd camera at the sun will hurt it. Pointing it at a full eclipse, however, is a different thing altogether.
I was talking to the general manager of the one and only real hotel in Seduna today and yes all the accomodation is gone. I also asked about hiring a campervan etc from Adelaide and according to him they are all booked out. So if you want to go to Seduna you will be camping. Now personally there is no way I would go there and camp. It is desert and the way things are going this summer its likely to be extrememly hot and dry. I asked is he had room somewhere for a mate but he said no chance as certain well know people with a lot of money have snaped up any unofficial accomodation (they were too lazy to book).
I love how everyone seems to think that amazing coincidences must be due to some higher power, when in fact they HAD to happen, for us to be here to see them. This is a bit off topic, but a big case of this is when doctors say things like "Its a miracle, if the bullet had been 1/4 of an inch to the left, he wouldn't have made it." without realizing that lots of times the bullet is 1/4 of an inch to the left and therefore the doctor never sees them. Its basically an observational bias, the observing is making claims based only on the evidence presented to them, when in fact the evidence is biased because it was presented to them.
----
Striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap ho
...and it reflects the fact that there are multiple "months" which must coincide to produce the "same" eclipse again. You have the synodic month (phases of the moon = 29.530 days), the draconic month (time between moon's passages through same node = 27.212 days) and the anomalistic month (time from perigee to perigee = 27.555 days). 239 anomalistic months ~ 223 synodic months ~ 242 draconic months = 1 Saros or about 18 years, 10 1/3 days. It's the time between "similar" eclipses.
l to see one of the best pages out there on this stuff.
It's NOT the time between all possible eclipses. Many different (40+) Saros cycles are going on at any one time. There's no way you could see two eclipses from the same Saros in just a few years, but the fact that an eclipse is total is the cool thing for most of us, not the fact that it's part of the same Saros cycle as another eclipse.
Check out http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.htm
I hope you're just trolling. First, if you actually study it, what the hell is "meterology"? We have a similar science called Meteorology that may interest you, but it's concerned with weather, not celestial mechanics.
As far as the bullshit about radiation, as I understand it, 3500 km of rock makes a dandy shield (especially when added to the existing magnetospheric & atmospheric shielding).
Why go all that way to in the place where the "sun don't shine :-)" for a few seconds?
If you have ever seen / experienced a true
100% total eclipse you might understand.
I have NEVER seem a photograph
do justice to the experience.
Not only do photographs fail to present the
full dynamic range of the visual, they lack
the wind, the temperature drop, the effect
on plants, birds, insects, people ...
You really have to see and experience a total
solar eclipse directly.
Each eclipse is unique. The shape and size of the solar corona. The colors. Solar prominence positions, shapes, rates of change. Sky brightness. Duration of the diamond rings. Shadow edge sharpness. Shadow band size and change rate. etc. etc. No two eclipses look the same.
The eclipse near/at Ceduna will have some special features. The short duration is a result of the moon and sun being very near the same size. Long eclipses (such as up 7+ minutes) allow for observation of the inner corona (near the solar disk edge) only near the beginning and end of the Eclipse. Short eclipses offer excellent inner corona views throughout the eclipse. There is a trade-off between inner detail and duration.
The eclipse will be near sunset. The same optical illusion that makes a full moon near the horizon seem large makes the solar corona (sometimes 2x to 4x the apparent size of the sun/moon disk) seem huge.
The Sun will set after totality ends but while the moon is partially covering the solar disk. We will watch a crescent sun set. Instead of watching a single point wink out, we will watch two points wink out one after the other. Some are hoping to see a double green flash.
The Sun should be entering quieter phase of its sunspot cycle. But for the last few months we have seen an unusual degree of activity this late in cycle. A more active sun frequently results in a non-uniform shaped corona. A more active sun frequently results more and unusual numbers of solar prominences.
chongo (was here)
I think that the hype over this solar eclipse has gone too far. Now they want to set up some "tent city" in the tiny outback town of Ceduna. I tell you, this is not the sort of town made to support large tourist populations. Next they will be setting up their loud music and who is going to clean up all the trash left behind. Who else will stand with me? I say, it's time for this eclipse to be CANCELLED and moved to a more appropriate venue.
-the Concerned Residents Of Ceduna.
...your bongos, your ganja and your anti-uranium-mining flags painted on bedsheets!
ROTFLMFAO
"Verbing weirds language." -- Calvin