The solar eclipse of August 21st will come in from the Pacific in Oregon, cross the United States and exit at South Caroline to the Atlantic. This map shows the eclipse path and is color-coded to show the likely cloud cover.



Image Credit: Jay Anderson; Data: MODIS Satellite, NASA's GSFC

Solar eclipses are fascinating and can make fabulous pictures against an interesting background. This is a wonderful composite of the total eclipse of March 2015 in the Faroe Islands. It was entered in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Credit: Rebecca and Remy Hoehener

Where is the best location to see the eclipse? EarthSky pick of 10 places along the path of totality. There's also some general advice and suggestions about preparing for the day.

In June the US Postal Service is releasing a stamp that changes when you touch it. The Solar Eclipse Forever stamp commemorating the August 21 eclipse, transforms into an image of the Moon from the heat of a finger.

You can read the whole story of the eclipse stamp here.

If you're interested in the 2017 total solar eclipse, take advantage of this offer now – or at least on or before Tuesday May 23. Brian Ventrudo and Manish Panjwani have produced an e-book guide called "How to See the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: A Practical Guide for the First-Time Eclipse Watcher". It will sell on Amazon for $3.99, but you can download it free for the next few days.

Brian writes

You can download it onto a Kindle device – or a computer, tablet or smartphone with the Kindle Reader app. 

Here's the link to the 2017 eclipse guide on Amazon.

NOTE: I'm passing on to Bellaonline readers what I think is a good deal. I don't benefit from the sales of this book.

From Universe Today:



Astronomy cast "Prepping for the Eclipse"

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught a solar eclipse on Thursday (May 25). It wasn't a total eclipse like the one some fortunate North Americans will see on August 21, but a partial eclipse which is what most people will see on the day. We see a solar eclipse when the Moon passes between us and the Sun and that's what the SDO observed. Here is a GIF that's reduced the 50-minute lunar transit of the Sun to a few seconds. It covered almost 90% of the Sun at its maximum.

Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Joy Ng, producer

SDO isn't positioned to see the total eclipse in August, but it will see a partial eclipse just after the total eclipse exits the USA.

If you're wondering, What's It Like to See a Total Solar Eclipse? Mr Eclipse himself - Fred Espenak - tells you in this article. I like the drawing of the partial eclipse on the ground leaves.

If you hope to see the total eclipse and it won't be visible from your backyard, you need a plan. There will be a lot of other people doing the same thing. How much traffic on eclipse day? has some alarming statistics. But it also gives you useful suggestions for making your plan.

Is anyone calling this the 'end of the world' because of the eclipse?

Yes, Angie, there's always someone. In this case, a group of fundamentalist Christians think this solar eclipse is the one that portends the end, the previous ones having not quite managed. They're apparently looking forward to it.

If you're hoping to see the eclipse, you need to protect your eyes. Did you know that even if only a tiny sliver of the Sun's disk is visible, you can do lasting damage to your eyes, though you probably won't be blinded.

Deborah Byrd of SeaSky warns Our supplier has told us this is the last batch we can get. Order your eclipse glasses now!

Social media is great at spreading misconceptions. Dr. Marshall Shepherd of the University of Georgia explains about Four Emerging Misconceptions On Social Media About The Upcoming Great American Eclipse. Lots of useful information.

This article on the solar eclipse includes a super feature. You can put in your zip code and it will show what you will see during the eclipse - assuming weather is ok, of course.

And remember! if you're watching the partial eclipse, use proper eclipse glasses or something to project the eclipse. Don't look at the Sun without eye protection. You'd be surprised how much harmful radiation there is even if a small part of the Sun is not eclipsed.

Jamie Carter writing for Sky & Telescope says

Click for his article Still Making Eclipse Travel Plans? Camping Might be the Answer.

If you don't have your eclipse glasses yet, you're leaving it a bit late. I've just read a report about unscrupulous people providing substandard glasses: Solar-eclipse fever means counterfeit glasses are flooding Amazon’s market

The good news is that - so far - even those glasses that don't have approval aren't necessarily dangerous. The bad news is that the longer you put off getting them, the more likely you are to get something that isn't protective. So take care.

I'll say it again. Even a Sun that is mostly eclipsed emits enough radiation to damage your eyes.

Eclipse glasses - get them NOW!

EarthSky says:
Yes, we have eclipse glasses.
Allow one week for shipping in the U.S. Sorry, we can no longer guarantee delivery of international orders. Order today! EarthSky is on the approved list of reputable vendors of eclipse glasses, from the American Astronomical Society.

For the extra-keen, this shows all the eclipses that will be seen in North America in the 21st century. But you'll have to be quite young now and live to be quite old to see some of them!

The first successful photograph of a solar eclipse, showing the Sun's corona, was made on July 28, 1851. It was a daguerrotype made by J. Berkowski at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

Even people on the path of totality, or who might get a nice partial eclipse, won't be immune to rain and cloudy skies. And then there's the rest of the world that aren't even close! Space.Com has put together a page with a selection of live webcasts. Worth a bookmark.

Here is something very cool from NASA. It simulates what the Sun will look like on August 21. "Eyes on the Eclipse" lets you explore different locations along the path of totality and where there will be a partial eclipse, or no eclipse.

You can download the app Eyes on the Skies with instructions.

If you're in California on August 21, you're not on the eclipse line of totality, but there will be some good partial eclipses. Get your eclipse glasses NOW - or be sure you know how to project the eclipse. (I saw a picture of someone using a colander to project multiple images, but I've never tried it myself!)

Here's what people may see in California.

I came across this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and liked its list of things to look for during a total eclipse. An eclipse is more interesting than just looking at a big black spot where the Sun should be. (That can actually be somewhat disturbing.)

What should you look for in a solar eclipse?

While World War I was tearing Europe apart in 1915, a German physicist presented a theory that would shake up the way we see the Universe. The physicist was Albert Einstein, his face still unknown to the world, his name not yet a synonym for genius. How did a solar eclipse in 1919 change all that?

Einstein's Eclipse

One of my kids is going to drive the family to a place where they can view the total eclipse. How lucky is that?! They live in the Chicago area ...

Fantastic. I hope they get a good view. Seeing a solar eclipse is really an amazing experience.

Mona, didn't you provide for us a list of sites for following the eclipse? I thought I had it in my file but cannot seem to locate the email.

Angie, it was this link to the Space.Com list of live streams of the eclipse. I'll be trying out some of those myself.

Mona, thank you.

The last teensy bit of yesterday's eclipse made it across the Atlantic. Here is a particularly pretty photo taken by Paulo Pereira in Portugal.

This image of the August 21st solar eclipse shows sunspots and some other strange spots. It's a composite image made up of seven frames taken by photographer Joel Kowsky near Banner, Wyoming. It shows a partially eclipsed Sun being transited by the International Space Station (ISS).

Can't tell if the crew were waving. Onboard as part of Expedition 52 are: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer, and Randy Bresnik; Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy; and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

It's another one! Simon Tang in Huron, California caught the ISS transiting a partially eclipsed Sun. The whole transit takes less than a second, but you don't want the space station to be blurred, so exposure time has to be less than 1/1000th of a second. Good job done here!

People often think that it's only in a clear sky that you can get a good view of an eclipse. However you may see it all in a partly cloudy sky, and the clouds may make for atmospheric photos.

Here is a Diamond Ring in a Cloudy Sky taken by Ashley Marando in Central, South Carolina. The photographer has captured the moment of a diamond ring, with drifting clouds. Exquixite.

Did you know that one day in the distant future - about 600 million years from now - there won't be any more total eclipses?

Total eclipses can happen now because the Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon, BUT the Moon is about 400 times closer. So they appear to be about the same size in the Earth's sky.

However, like the Martian moon Deimos, the Moon is slowly moving away from us - about 4 cm (1.5 inches) a year. That is definitely slow. But eventually the Moon won't be able to hide the Sun completely. However there will still be annular eclipses. An annular eclipse is often called a "ring of fire".

Here is a spectacular annular eclipse photographed behind palm trees (January 1992) by noted astrophotographer Dennis L. Mammana.

Now, that is fascinating!

I keep thinking that this eclipse thread is complete, but then I find another great picture. Here is Fred Espenak's Eclipsosaurus Rex.

Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak (MrEclipse.com)