We’ve been reading about Galileo lately and using this fantastic book:
When we heard there was going to be a partial Solar Eclipse visible from Australia today, I made sure that we read the chapter on Galileo’s observations of sunspots this week. We made a pin hole viewer in preparation for the eclipse, scheduled for this afternoon.
Problem was, a thunderstorm was also scheduled for this afternoon! The partial eclipse was to start at 2.47pm, reach mid-eclipse by 3.38pm and finish at 4.27pm. This is what it looked like at 3.38pm:
Then, at 3.54, there was a patch of blue sky, the sun started to shine brightly and we were out there like a shot!!
Stephen is holding the pin hole viewer. We got instructions on how to make it from this site: www.paulfloyd.id.au We actually got to see a tiny section of the sun was shaded by the moon. The photo may not be clear but it was clear to us!
Just the very top left hand corner is affected. Anyway, we thought it was exciting! Apparently, there won’t be another solar eclipse until 2012, so we were thankful we got to see this.
At 4.05pm, it clouded over again. By 4.15pm, the heavens opened, the sky went dark and I headed in here to the computer!
Paul Floyd’s site is being swamped right now but I’ll try and get back on here and show the fact sheet he put out for the event – I was impressed with it.
Here’s a photo of mine:
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