I’m writing this a little time before the total eclipse of the sun on the 12th of August, so I don’t know what the weather will be like for the event. Of course this is Spain so we can expect it to be nice, but there is a good chance of cloud on the horizon at sunset when the eclipse starts.
Why all the fuss? Total eclipses of the Sun in a country are a rare event, the last one here was in 1905, over 120 years ago, so it stands to reason that with all the advances in science, opportunities for study are massively improved since the last time. Please make no mistake, Spain has some of the best astronomers and physicists in the world so this event will be very well studied.
One of the odd things to most people is that total eclipses in any given area don’t come on there own, there will be another next year and a third the following January. The reason for this is quite complex and stems from the Moons orbit around the Earth being inclined about 5 degrees to the Earths orbital plane. This is also the reason why we don’t get solar eclipses more often, if you want to look all this up read about the intersection of Lunar nodes
For me the third eclipse will be the most interesting, this will be what’s called an annular eclipse. What is one of those? The moon is not a constant distance from the Earth, this eclipse takes place when the Moon is at apogee, the furthest distance from Earth so appears a little smaller in the sky. The result of this is that the eclipse won’t be entirely total, the moon will cover most of the sun but leaving a fiery ring around it. This is called an annulus, hence the name.
I will be using a specially adapted telescope to look at the eclipses, One with a purpose made solar filter, this protects the telescope and stops me blinding myself. Don’t ever look at the sun directly, you will lose your sight. Purpose made eclipse glasses are cheap and easily available over the internet. I got a few sets for our group a little while ago.
That’s it for this month, next month I’ll be talking about the milky way, our galaxy, not the chocolate bar.

Charles Oates, Vega Baja Astronomy Group.

To find out more about observing and astronomy why not join our group, email us at vegabaja.astronomygroup@gmail.com for more information.