The 2012 Solar Eclipse of May 20th came and went. What a fun event. When it first started I joked with a buddy that “Oh my god! I can see it! It’s already getting darker!“ But when it got down to it, believe it or not, it was actually a fun neighborhood event!
At the peak of the solar eclipse, neighbors started coming out and tinkering around with their various homemade “pinhole projectors.” Some had two pieces of small cardboard or their shoebox contraptions. It was pretty fun, but then I pointed to the ground and showed my neighbors the “poor man’s pinhole projector!”
In fact, we had a huge pinhole projectors all over the place. One of them made my garage door the magic solar eclipse projector while others made a car a projector!
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Today, 5-20-12, starting at 5:24 p.m., a solar eclipse will start and at 6:38 p.m., the max coverage will be in effect. In Los Angeles, like here in Menlo Park, it will appear that 85% of the sun will be eclipsed into a C-shaped light bulb! Mt Fuji would seem to be the spot to see it full on eclipsed.
(Seriously??? 6:38? I’ll be 2/3rds through Game of Thrones right then!)
The next total eclipse of the sun will take place in 2017.
Remember to not look directly at the sun. I did that once when I was in Jr. High and have had a “momento” of that brainless event ever since.
The official warning goes like this:
Never view the sun with the naked eye or with any optical device, such as binoculars or a telescope!
There will be a few online locations broadcasting if you can stand that kind of fast paced excitement.
- Slooh Space Camera
- Panasonic
- Hong Kong Observatory
- Hong Kong Space Museum
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Or you can make your own pinhole projector… which you can find quick instructions here: exploratorium.edu
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