[Offtopic] Solar eclipse on Thursday 7 February last until 2012

[Roland Gesthuizen]

Cross post from the oz-teachers mailing list .. apologies if you get
any duplicates.

Regards Roland

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       www.paulfloyd.id.au
Solar eclipse on Thursday 7 February
           last until 2012
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Website and Astronomy Outreach Sponsor: www.celestron.com   Available
at all quality Australian optical outlets


Just a short email to alert you to the years first significant Earth &
Beyond teaching opportunity. A partial Solar Eclipse will occur on the
afternoon of Thursday 7th February. Make sure you take advantage of
the teaching opportunity presented by the eclipse as it will the last
eclipse directly visible from the Australian mainland until 2012. The
exception to this will be a partial solar eclipse visible only from
Tasmania in 2011.

As a bit of background, a partial Solar Eclipse differs from a total
Solar Eclipse in the respect that only part of the Sun is blocked from
view. During a total Solar Eclipse, the entire disc of the Sun is
blocked from view for a few minutes as the Moon moves in it's orbit
between the Earth and the Sun. Solar and Lunar eclipses (as well as
Moon phases) are all caused by the respective movements of the three
bodies in their respective orbits. Note that you can't safely directly
view a partial Solar eclipse without special astronomical filters due
to the ultraviolet radiation given out by the Sun. Doing so will cause
permenant long term eye damage.

Don't let that put you off getting your students involved however. You
can get them to make a safe indirect viewer using only a couple of
pieces of cardboard, a small piece of foil and a pin. Information can
be found here: http://www.eclipse.org.uk/old/pparc_web/pinhole.html
and here: http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html

Detailed information on the eclipse and safe viewing methods can be
found on the 'Ice in Space' site at
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=63,448,0,0,1,0

I will add information to my site in a couple of weeks time.

Regards,

Paul Floyd.
www.paulfloyd.id.au

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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
--Margaret Mead