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Rare Midnight Solar Eclipse Caught In the Arctic

Posted by timothy on from the where-was-arcticstoat? dept.

Tyketto writes "Wired Magazine has an article posted about a solar eclipse occurring overnight in the Arctic and Scandinavian regions over the night of June 1st and 2nd. They explain: 'During the Arctic summer, the sun dips low on the horizon but never sets. That means a solar eclipse is theoretically possible at any time. But this week's eclipse was the first visible from Scandinavia since 2000, and the deepest since 1985. The next one won't be for another 73 years.' NASA has the details, while NPR also has a small blurb on it, with Tromsø, Norway resident Rhys Jones adding some pictures to Flickr, and SpaceWeather putting together a gallery."

24 comments

  1. Any vampires show up? by bryan1945 · · Score: 0

    Reference is to the movie '30 Days of Night.'
    On the serious side, I've only seen one eclipse so far, so it I can imagine it must have been neat to see that. Especially at night, which just makes it cooler (weirder?). The pictures linked are great; I wonder if anyone got video of the event. Kind of neat when you get to see something that only happens one is a great while, a la Halley's Comet (I may get to see it again).

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    1. Re:Any vampires show up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      30 Days of Night takes place during the arctic Winter.
      This is in the summer, thus the sun never really sets!

  2. news? by hvm2hvm · · Score: 2

    Is it news if it's something you can know about a long time before it happens?

    --
    ics
    1. Re:news? by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      Well, the pictures are new. And since I didn't know about it beforehand, it was news to me.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    2. Re:news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "US forces invades Iraq"
      "Mr. and Mrs. Doe are now parents"
      "Subprime mortgages causes bank crisis"

      So.. Yes.

    3. Re:news? by virtuosonic · · Score: 0

      this aren't news, this are olds

      --
      http://agender.sourceforge.net/ get a free schedule tool
    4. Re:news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Newly received or noteworthy information, esp. about recent or important events

      Yes.

  3. Scandinavia!? by Jorgensen · · Score: 1

    "Scandinavian Regions" - makes sense. But "Scandinavia"!? NOT A COUNTRY - you must just have invented that one. Or perhaps it is a Bushism? Mind you, only a fraction of the scandinavian regions are north of the artic cicle. It's a bit like claiming that the eclipse was seen in the USA even though it was only visible in parts of Alaska...

    1. Re:Scandinavia!? by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually Scandinavia as a noun is a perfectly valid use of the word.

      Just like Oceania is used to describe the regions around the country of Australia which are not part of the country of Australia but border on the continent of Australasia and the Pacific Region.

      One may say it's also similar to the Arctic. Also not a country but a perfectly valid noun describing a region.

    2. Re:Scandinavia!? by rossdee · · Score: 1

      Scandinavia is an area in the northwest part of Europe. The countries therein include Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Iceland is also considered part of Scandinavia as the people living there came from Scandinavia. Theres quite a few here (west Central MN) too.

    3. Re:Scandinavia!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh no now you did it. Prepare for an onslaught of Swedes and Norwegians correcting you for your overbroad definition of Scandinavia... by the standards of Scandinavian languages. They'll never accept the fact that in English the word Scandinavia can be used to refer to all five of the Nordic countries.

    4. Re:Scandinavia!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We were taught in school (Penfield, NY), during the 1970's, that Scandinavia commonly refers to the nations Norway, Sweden, Finland and usually Denmark. Not being "a country" does not mean that it is not a legitimate term for the region. The Middle East "isn't a country" either, but it is an accepted term for a specific region.

  4. How does that work? by jfengel · · Score: 2

    I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the mechanics of eclipses, but I never realized that solar eclipses would particularly occur at arctic latitudes more than others.

    Rereading the sentence, I think it just means "possible at any time, as opposed to just during the day time, since day is 24 hours long". As opposed to my initial reading, "it makes solar eclipses particularly probable". That's not correct, right? And did anybody else read it that way, or am I just exposing my ignorance (again)?

    1. Re:How does that work? by VortexCortex · · Score: 2

      I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the mechanics of eclipses, but I never realized that solar eclipses would particularly occur at arctic latitudes more than others.

      Rereading the sentence, I think it just means "possible at any time, as opposed to just during the day time, since day is 24 hours long". As opposed to my initial reading, "it makes solar eclipses particularly probable". That's not correct, right? And did anybody else read it that way, or am I just exposing my ignorance (again)?

      Particularly probable in that region. Perhaps, because the region does not experience an obstruction of the Sun by the Earth. Thus, a solar eclipse may occur at "any time" -- This doubles the chance of observing Solar eclipses.

      An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth (Solar Eclipse).
      During a Solar Eclipse a Lunar eclipse is less likely to be visible...

      An eclipse of the Moon occurs when the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun (Lunar Eclipse).
      During a Lunar Eclipse, a Solar eclipse is less likely to be visible...

      An eclipse of the Earth occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Earth (Night). During a Night, a Solar eclipse is less likely to be visible...

      An eclipse of the Earth can also occur when your hands pass between the Earth and your Face (Face-palm).
      During a Face-Palm, all other eclipses are less likely to be visible...

    2. Re:How does that work? by jfengel · · Score: 1

      So it's just the "night" thing, the fact of the rotation of the earth. Averaged over a year, they would see the same number of eclipses as everyone else.

      In fact, I'd have expected them to see fewer eclipses than at the equator, since the moon spends more time near the equator. Is it even possible to get a full solar eclipse at the poles?

    3. Re:How does that work? by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 1

      So it's just the "night" thing, the fact of the rotation of the earth. Averaged over a year, they would see the same number of eclipses as everyone else.

      In fact, I'd have expected them to see fewer eclipses than at the equator, since the moon spends more time near the equator. Is it even possible to get a full solar eclipse at the poles?

      Yes. The eclipse on 20 March 2015 will be total at the North Pole. For the South Pole, try 16 January 2094.

      In 2004 I looked at maps to see where was the nearest place I might go to see the transit of Venus. The nearest place was Inuvik, where the transit would be visible during the midnight sun. It looked good until I checked the weather prospects. :-(

      ...laura

    4. Re:How does that work? by jfengel · · Score: 1

      Thanks!

      My first thought would be that it must make the moon's orbit quite tilted, but I guess between the axial tilt of the earth and the substantial distances involved, it doesn't require all that much.

  5. Midnight? Any time zone fits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At the pole all the time zones converge so choosing midnight as the time of
    eclispse is arbitrary.

    1. Re:Midnight? Any time zone fits by vuo · · Score: 1

      Except that this wasn't at the just at the pole, but at the extreme northern end of the Scandinavian peninsula. It's a populated, relatively "southern" region in the sense that these regions still experience normal days and nights for most of the year.

    2. Re:Midnight? Any time zone fits by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      When we're working at high latitudes and distant locations (which applies to both poles, though we don't go to that high latitudes. Yet.), we run our local time the same as the port that our major supply ships are dispatched from. It's purely arbitrary, but very useful.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  6. Label them "1". "2" and "4" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Usually takes a crane to get them out...

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