Physics Photo of the Week

Partial Solar Eclipse of October 14, 2023 Partial Eclipse photos by Jeremy Allen Students, teachers, and parents in the Swannanoa Valley in Western North Carolina were celebrating the grand opening of an addition to the ArtSpace Charter School last Saturday.  I set-up an eclipse watch at the festivities providing a solar-filtered telescope, solar viewing goggles, and a special telescope.  Parent Jeremy Allen obtained this excellent color photo of the partial eclipse, caused by the Moon passing in front of the Sun, blocking out about 1/3 of the Sun's visible "disk".  The eclipse event was partially hampered by clouds that had moved in during the event, but opened briefly to admit the sunshine in limited patches of clear sky.  The clouds actually aided Jeremy's camera, as the clouds probably passed only about 1/10 the full sunlight - preventing heavy over-exposure.  Students, parents, and teachers were awed by viewing the partially eclipsed Sun with special solar-viewin

  Long focus pinhole camera - safe solar viewer for partial solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 October 5, 2023 There will be a partial solar eclipse next Saturday - October 14, 2023.  The eclipse begins about 11:23 am as the moon's disk begins to cover the Sun from the west side.  Maximum coverage (about 45% for Western N. Carolina) occurs about 12:54 EDT.  The Sun will be partially covered by the Moon until about 2:30 PM.  All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).  This is only a partial solar eclipse.  Maps of the eclipse are viewable at the website: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/where-when .   Be very careful viewing the sun - even during eclipses!  Never look directly at the Sun - permanent blindness may result!   Safe solar viewing goggles may be purchased from area science museums or on-line sites by searching for "solar viewing goggles". Another device can be easily made at home for safe viewing: an "open-air" pinhole cam