Partial Solar Eclipse

On 7 February there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse. Imagine the Earth out in space, then put the Moon between us and the Sun - voila! You have an eclipse. An annular eclipse (as opposed to a total or full eclipse) is when the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than the Sun, leaving a ring of light around the Moon.

The annular eclipse will be visible if you are lucky enough to be in Antarctica. For those of us who won't make it to Antarctica this afternoon, a partial eclipse will be visible from the eastern states of Australia. In Melbs we will get a 9% eclispe, like the image above.

Not totally impressive, and not noticable unless you are looking at it - however, don't look at it! Unless you have solar telescopes, not a good idea to stare at the sun, what with the blinding and the ow and the pain and the burning. Lucky for me I will be running the solar telescopes at work for the public - my favourite kind of people.

The next Total Solar Eclipse will occur on 1 August 2008 and will be visible in Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, Siberia, Mongolia and China. Australia will see its next partial eclipse on 26 January 2009, but will have to wait until 13 November 2012 for our next Total Solar Eclipse.

In daylight saving time -

Eclipse begins: 2:39pm / Eclipse maximum: 3:28pm / Eclipse ends: 4:15pm