What is a Solar Eclipse?
A Solar Eclipse is when Earth's Moon intersects light coming from the Sun to Earth. Solar Eclipses don't happen often because of the Moon's orbit, which is not even with Earth. But, basically, a solar eclipse is when the Moon casts a shadow on Earth.

What is the Science Behind a Solar Eclipse?
A Solar Eclipse happens when the Moon travels between the Sun and the Earth. Due to the tilt in the Moon's orbit, it often passes below or above the Sun but every so often it gets between us and the Sun. Most of the time the Moon eclipses part of the Sun, creating a Partial Solar Eclipse. But every once in a while the Moon enters the direct plane between the Sun and Earth, creating a Total Solar Eclipse.

During a Total Solar Eclipse a Partial Solar Eclipse is visible in the areas outside the Moon's full shadow, or the Umbra. The areas within the Partial Solar Eclipse fall in the Penumbra. The regions of Earth who fall within the Umbra is called "The Path of Totality."

Try This at Home!
Grab a flashlight and a small object, like a tennis ball or even your fist! The object doesn't need to be round but it will help demonstrate what's happening. The flashlight will be the Sun while the object will be the Moon. Find a wall and that'll be Earth. Shine the light on the wall and move the object into the path of the light. The dark center is the Umbra, the region where the object completely blocks the flashlight from hitting the wall, the gray areas are the Penumbra or the areas where the object partially blocks the flashlight.

Does a Total Eclipse Have Any Effects?
There are no long term affects, it's merely a phenomenon. There are short term effects however! In the umbra the temperature can dip several degrees. In fact, NASA has an experiment you can do at home! They encourage you to download their app and get a thermometer. Before the eclipse register the temperature on their app, then record the temperature again during the eclipse. You can do this experiment whether your in the umbra or penumbra.

Since the Sun is blocked by the Moon, the sky will darken. More so in the path of totality than outside of it.

Read More at NASA!

Safety Information
DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN. Ever. You will need solar glasses to look at the Sun. Or, you can look at the shadows cast by leaves from trees. During a partial eclipse the light that makes it through the trees will be crescent Moon shaped, it's really cool! So you can use the shadows to watch the eclipse or you can make some other tools, such as a cereal box viewer.



The Cemetech Community
Are any of you guys making a pilgrimage to see the Eclipse? If so, what are your plans?

Fortunately, I don't have to go anywhere, it's going to pass right over me!
A few of my German friends are coming over though so that's cool!

One of my teachers accidently explained an eclipse as "When the moon goes behind the sun."

I live in NH, so I'll see part of it.

TLM: That is hilarious.

Alex: I know you like photography; is there any way you can use a special filter or something to capture the Sun? I know the corona can only be seen during a eclipse, and getting a photo of it would be amazing.

Haha, that is pretty hilarious! One of my moms coworkers, whose a teacher, is adamant you can stare at the sun without proper protection. She's tried convincing her otherwise but has had no success.



Yup! I purchased a Solar Filter for my camera and will be photographing it from the moment of totality until it's done or my battery dies. I didn't charge the battery for this camera between vacations because it was still at 4 bars. Well, now it's at 1 or 2. So I took the battery out of the camera and haven't touched it. I'll be photographing the moment of totality so I know I'll have battery for it then photographing the rest of it. Then I'll probably just do some photoshop magic to make it look like I got the start of the eclipse.

I'll definitely go into detail about how I photographed it and stuff in the days after I get back from vacation. I'll do my best to post the photo the day of or the day after, I'll be at a party for most of Monday and won't bring my laptop. Not sure when I'll get back but hopefully I'll post the picture late Monday (Pacific) or early Tuesday before I head to the airport.

There will be snow?

Unlikely. The drop in temperature will only last a few minutes, and could be something like 75ºF to 62ºF. I really don't know but I'll certainly report the temperature! I'm no weather expert but I don't the conditions will line up for there to be snow anywhere across the path of totality. Besides, you wouldn't be able to see the eclipse through the clouds!

Thanks for mansplaining what an eclipse is. I look forward to seeing your unique special photograph of the eclipse along with the 40 trillion other identical pictures.

I'm always happy to provide knowledge on a forum that's here to educate.





Just because it won't be original, I should give up? Throw my hands up and concede? Cemetech is a forum that's here to encourage (primarily) young adults to pursue programming, various STEM fields, and/or other dreams they may have. There are hundreds of identical programs for calculators so should we discourage aspiring programmers from making more? No, that's awful advice. People should be encouraged to pursue their dreams, hobbies, ambitions, and ideas. If someone wants to do something they should do it, regardless if millions of others are doing it too.

I'd much rather have Cemetech users refer to the excellent and detailed resources out there. The Washington Post has an excellent guide that I'd recommend to all.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/total-solar-eclipse-2017-faq

This whole post reminds me of this comic:

I unfortunately have classes, so I will only be able to see a partial eclipse from where I am. How sad... If I'm correct though, there should be another one in North America in 2024.

See, constructive criticism wasn't hard. I think I just witnessed your heart grow by three sizes! Our members and visitors are more than welcome to look up other sites for info, as they most likely would have already considering how hyped this event has been. But that doesn't exactly promote activity and discussion for our community. I could have simply linked to an outside source and called it done but I ultimately wanted to reinforce our quality over quantity mantra. Original writing trumps a summary and a link, there's enough of that on the web already.



Aw bummer and yes there will! I'll definitely be out there for that one too! Taking what I've learned from this experience and applying it to that one, hopefully capturing a better eclipse photo than this year; since the photo I'm taking on Monday is an after thought, I want to experience it first and foremost.

You posted some dumb random youtube video. Clearly you don't even believe what you write.

Thanks for posting up the information, Alex! I, too, look forward to seeing the effects of the eclipse and hopefully getting a picture or two to keep for my own memories of the event

I will not be able to go to totality, but will snap a few pics from my location, hopefully not frying my camera.

I'm going to southern Illinois as part of a school field trip, and I'm super excited. I also implore anyone planning to go to the eclipse to take the advice of xkcd 1876 and bring plenty of water because traffic jams are nearly certain.

I won't be traveling, but I'll see about 2/3 of the sun covered up where I am in Texas. I'm pretty excited for 2024 though, because the total eclipse then will go right over me!

Oh yeah. It'll be all the day trippers and those who stayed overnight. I'm sure traffic will be bad today going into tomorrow morning then it'll be even worse by everyone going home tomorrow, I've heard that some hotels are charging about $800 a night. If I were getting a hotel, I could justify one night at that but not two, as I'm sure lots of people feel the same way.

I did move my flight to Tuesday because I assumed I wouldn't have made it to the airport on time (I'm 90 minutes away under no traffic). So instead we'll leave at around 6-7a on Tuesday morning to get me to the airport by 11.



Lucky! If you move in the next 6 years you better make arrangements to have a place to stay! I've got some friends in the path that I'll make arrangements with about a year or two prior.



I would be careful. The lens elements could act as a magnifying glass if you zoom in a bunch.



I look forward to seeing a selfie!

I look forward to seeing your photos, Alex! I might try that cereal box thing. Is there another way to view it safely? I vaguely recall seeing a paper with a small hole poked in the middle.

There are a few ways! If you have a tree in your yard that the sun shines through (as in, you can see specs of light on the ground through the leaves), you can see the eclipse happen by looking at those shadows! It's the same principle of the cereal box method. So grab a chair and find some shadows cast by trees on the side of a building. You'll be super comfy without staring down at the ground.

There's also the method that the Simpsons used in an Episode a couple years ago which requires a shoebox and some toilet paper or paper towel tubes!