Hi folks,
on March 29 there will be a solar eclipse, visible all over Europe, the greatest part of Africa and a long way into Asia. The Eastern part of South America will see it at sunrise. On a narrow path reaching from the Eastern tip of South America over the South Atlantic, Western and Northern Afrca through the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and Turkey well into Asia, the eclipse will be total: Black Sun!
Many authors have described total solar eclipses as the greatest natural events one can witness, and I daresay they're right. The Austrian poet Adalbert Stifter wrote about the eclipse over Austria in 1842: "What is the most terrible thunderstorm, it is a noisy flea market compared to this deadly silent majesty." Only the ignorants can say "It gets dark and then bright again - so what?" That's like describing Therion's "Siren of the Woods" with the words: "Some people make noises", just a hundred times worse.
Impressive as they are, total solar eclipses are rare events, and each is visible from a rather small area only; therefore they are often hard to reach. This one is rather easy to reach for Europeans because the shadow of the moon will strike tourist areas such as Antalya in Turkey. Thus I will take a short trip to Turkey to view the eclipse from there. :w00t:
But even those of you that live and stay in places where the eclipse is partial, not total: You're not allowed to miss it! You get the chance to view a partial solar eclipse only once every few years on average, so these are rare, too. And they are beautiful in their own right. You will see the moon gliding silently between you and the sun and you will
feel that everything is in motion, that you are part of a great cosmic dance. Don't miss that chance! (Or you'll get trouble with me.)
Besides that, a deep partial (76% in Bucharest) will cause changes in your environment. The sun won't burn on your skin as much as it usually does, the colours around you will look paler than usually, the sky will be a deeper blue. The shadows will be unnaturally sharp, and wherever sunlight falls through small holes, small solar crescents will appear on the ground - be it beneath a tree with leaves, through the holes of noodle sieve, a straw hat or anything else. These changes may be subtle, but you will see them if you just open your eyes and
look.
But in any case:
Never ever look at the sun without proper protection! NEVER!! Its fierce glare would burn your eyes - even if it's partly hidden by the moon. The uneclipsed part of the sun would still burn itself into your retina - a smaller part of your eye gets burnt then, but still it gets burnt. There are several secure ways to watch the sun safely. The easiest may be to invest a couple of bucks in special eclipse-viewing-glasses that should be available at every good opticians' store. If you want to use binocularsm a telescope or a camera protection is even more important, and there are several good methods for that, too.
So in short:
1. Find out whether and when the eclipse is visible from your place.
2. Get yourself those special filters to protect your eyes.
3. Watch the eclipse, and think of me as you do so, wishing me clear skies.
This is an order. You may leave now.
Cheers!
Markus
NTSMS has gone Miskolc! 