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Subscribe to RSSDuring the annular eclipse, the moon will travel in front of the sun, blocking its light -- except for a so-called "ring of fire" around the edge. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
It's time to put on your eclipse glasses, prepare your pinhole projectors or scout out a sun-watching website: The first annular solar eclipse to pass through the United States in 18 years is on its way.
The moon will start eating away at the sun's disk around 5 p.m. ET today — although that's early Monday morning in Asia, where the eclipse begins. A wide swath of the world between south China and the American Midwest will see a partial solar eclipse, due to the moon's position between Earth and sun. And along a roughly 200-mile-wide track, skywatchers can witness a "Ring of Fire," in which just a thin ring of the sun's disk remains uncovered. There'll be no total eclipse this time around, because the moon is too far away in orbit to match the sun's apparent size. Nevertheless, it's a sight not to be missed.
Here are seven things you need to know about witnessing the eclipse:
Seeing the big picture: Solar eclipses occur when the moon, sun and Earth line up closely enough for the moon to throw its shadow on earthly locations. Annular eclipses, which create that fiery ring around the moon, are actually rarer than total eclipses because the moon has to be relatively far away in its orbit. Check out this interactive for the graphic details.
Seeing it in Asia: The moon's shadow races eastward across Earth's surface at more than 2,000 mph, starting in China's southern Guangxi Province. Theoretically, the "Ring of Fire" could be visible after 6 p.m. ET over Asian urban centers such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Osaka and Tokyo. But for many of those cities, the weather outlook isn't that great: Cloudy skies or even thundershowers are in the forecast.
Seeing it in America: The partial eclipse begins over the U.S. West Coast and Canada around 8 p.m. ET, and even earlier in Alaska. Skywatchers in portions of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas can witness the "Ring of Fire" effect at its peak after 9 p.m. ET. As you go farther east, sunset becomes the limiting factor. The U.S. East Coast, for example, will miss out on all phases of the eclipse. Consult NASA's clickable map to find out what will be visible from your locale. The times are listed as UTC, so subtract five hours for Central Daylight Time, six hours for Mountain Time, and seven hours for Pacific Time. Don't forget to check the weather, too.
Seeing it safely: Experts emphasize that you should never gaze at the sun without appropriate eye protection, even when the solar disk is almost completely blocked by the moon during an annular eclipse. You can look at the sun through specially designed eclipse-viewing glasses, or through welder's glass. Those are in short supply now, but you might still be able to find the right equipment at national parks, science centers and other eclipse hot spots. You can also create a pinhole projector with supplies as simple as a sheet of paper, aluminum foil and a box. Or you can just look at the weird crescent-shaped and ring-shaped patterns created when sunlight streams through the trees. Check out this safety guide for more tips.
Seeing it online: If you're outside the eclipse zone, or if cloudy skies spoil your view, you can still choose from more than a dozen webcasts that are promising to follow the phenomenon. If one webcast isn't working, try another. Here's a list of the webcasts we've come across.
Sharing what you see: If you're a Twitter user, you'll want to use a hashtag like #eclipse, #eclipse2012 or #annulareclipse to let the world know about your sky sighting. And if you snap a great picture of the eclipse, won't you please share it with us, via Twitter or Instagram or Facebook? Flag your submission with the #EclipseMSNBC hashtag. We have an extra special option for DSLR users: Just upload your images using the drag-and-drop feature on this PhotoBlog page.
Seeing the next sky spectacular: The annular eclipse is a treat, but it's not the end of this year's big sky shows. If you have the right equipment — for example, a telescope or a pair of binoculars equipped with solar filters — you can watch the June 5 transit of Venus. (This will be the last such transit until 2117.) There's a total solar eclipse coming up on Nov. 13 that can be seen from Australia and the Pacific, as well as via the Internet. And in five years, totality will make a huge splash across the United States, for the first time since 1979. Sunday's event will provide good practice for all these coming attractions.
NASA's ScienceCast explains the why, when, where and how of the May 20 annular solar eclipse.
More about the annular solar eclipse:
- Podcast: All about the eclipse and Venus transit
- Get ready to chase the eclipse
- Where and how to see the eclipse
- How to see the eclipse online
- How to photograph the eclipse safely
- World's largest solar eclipse party? Game on!
- Why the 'Ring of Fire' will be a rare sight
- See the solar eclipse at a national park
- Satellite to watch solar eclipse from space
- Five myths about the sun
- Slideshow: Greatest eclipse hits
- Share your eclipse photos with PhotoBlog
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Can't wait !
Here's a sight that should have the live feed ....
http://events.slooh.com/ ....
These guys will have a live broadcast at 8:00 E.P.T. ....
Their main page is really ....
http://www.space.com/15773-solar-eclipse-online-webcast-info.html ....
Happy viewing ....
Slooh is the one I'm going for, I think. I love their countdown clock. We can imagine that we're about to blast off into space to see the Big Ring of Fire! lol
Oh, I'm just kidding for those who don't know me.
See ya, Ben!
Events like these are always a photographers dream ....
There should be plenty of photo's going around from this event for us to enjoy Darrah ....
Figured someone would mix up royally the terms "annual" and "annular". Embarassing that it's here and so prominent -- the video's caption starts with "During the annual eclipse."
They said the same thing on the weather channel this morning ....
But I really think you got their message anyway ....
Thanks, that one slipped by me. Got it fixed, sorry about that.
It's better than the word you could have written. Just sayin'. lol
Cool you fixed it! Now I wish there was a way to remove my comment :)
Happy sungazing tonight.
Thanks, Lorin ... Just glad I caught up with the fix before heading out to the Allen Telescope Array to watch the eclipse. Will have fresh material later today, be sure to keep me honest. All the best to you!
REBOOT OF THE GRID
5-20-2012
After the great success of World Liberation Day, our efforts for planetary liberation continue. This time, we will meet in groups large and small, as individuals and couples, at the exact time of the solar eclipse on May 20th. Masses will gather and visualize the liberation of our planet from the tyranny of all non-physical negative entities so that for the first time in our history we will have the chance to co-create our own spiritual destiny as free beings of Light on Earth and connect with the Source without obstruction. We need to have 144,000 people doing this visualization with focus to achieve the desired effect.
On May 20th there will be an annular solar eclipse, when the Moon will eclipse the Sun in front of the Pleiades. A powerful beam of Light will emanate from the Galactic Central Sun, descend directly through the Pleiades towards the Earth and will be grounded along the path of totality. This beam of Light will burn through all obstacles on etheric and astral planes and will strengthen our connection with the Source. It will burn through all fear programming of negative non-physical entitites and will reboot the energy grid around the planet at the exact moment when the shadow of the Moon will touch the mountaintop of Mount Shasta. After the reboot, we will be able to co-create our spiritual destiny with Light.
We will all be doing this visualization at the same time, the moment of the eclipse reboot, which comes this May 20th /21st. Exact times for different time zones are:
3:30 pm HAST May 20th (Hawaii)
5:30 pm AKDT May 20th (Alaska)
6:30 pm PDT May 20th (Los Angeles)
7:30 pm MDT May 20th (Denver)
8:30 pm CDT May 20th (Houston)
9.30 pm EDT May 20th (New York)
10:30 pm BRT May 20th (Rio de Janeiro)
2:30 am BST May 21st (London)
3:30 am CEST May 21st (Paris)
3:30 am SAST May 21st (South Africa)
4:30 am EEST May 21st (Bulgaria)
5:30 am MSK May 21st (Moscow)
7:00 am IST May 21st (India)
9:30 am CST May 21st (Beijing)
10:30 am JST May 21st (Tokyo)
11:30 am AEST May 21st (Sydney)
Instructions:
1. Relax your mind and body by watching your breath for a few minutes.
2. Visualize a pillar of electric blue Light emanating from the Galactic Central Sun, going through your body to the center of the Earth. Keep this pillar of Light active for a few minutes. Then visualize all negative entities around the Earth being removed from etheric and astral planes along with all their negative spiritual technologies and magical tools and all those entities being escorted into the Light by the non-physical freedom fighters of the Light. Visualize this process taking place worldwide peacefully and smoothly. Visualize the world finally being free from spiritual slavery, free from all evil Archons, Reptilians, demons, elementals and other negative non-physical beings. Visualize the vibration of the etheric and astral planes getting lighter and brighter until all dark beings are gone and only Light remains.
3. Visualize bright new spiritual future for humanity, with angels, fairies, dolphins, unicorns, spiritual guides and other beings of Light inhabiting etheric and astral planes. Visualize all wounds of humanity being healed, all humanity being inspired and guided with everybody having their own connection with their own Soul and the Source.
Please do this visualization as instructed and do not change it as otherwise it will not have the desired effect.
Sorry to break the news, but the sun does NOT align with the Pleiades today, or any other day. Don't believe me? Go to skymaponline.net, find the sun, and zoom in. Note that the sun is several degrees south of the Pleiades (M45 on the map).
Enjoy the eclipse, but don't turn it into something it isn't.
Total bs i know what i am talking about just do the meditation and watch great events unfold.
If I can debunk your post with a single Google search in less than a minute, then your post has problems.
BTW, the galactic center is in Sagittarius, not Taurus, and the sun doesn't align with it either.
I will be watching and enjoying the eclipse for what it is, not for what I wish it to be.
9:35pm Eastern - nothing. (What a surprise....)
Reptilians? HAHAHAHAHA
Well, i'llbedang....right over the Pacific Ring of Fire.
I'm soo stoked as they say! I was going to get some wine at the market but it's a "blue" Sunday here. A blue Sunday and a Ring of Fire--sure does sound like God's country, don't it? What more could you ask for. That will teach me not to be totally prepared. lol
Alan, I envy you being able to observe all these natural wonders in person, for the most part. Be careful up there on the North Pacific Coast.
I am a little confused about the time on the west coast of the U.S. What time is it there? They list 9 ET but we used PT, so that's what has me scrambled, among other things.
P.C.T. time is 3 hours behind E.T. ....
So if it's at 8:00 PM on the east coast ....
It is only 5:00 PM on the west coast ....
Of the U.S. ....
Alaska can be as much as 5 hours behind E.T. ....
.
Living in Florida saddens me. I wont get to see this one.
I live in Indiana and my family and I will miss it completely also. It will already be sunset here when it approaches our area.
One of my pet peeves is everything being given in eastern times. Even when they had the LA Olympics, they'd stop at 8pm for the "11 o'clock" news. When things happen on the west coast, shouldn't the times be given for the west coast?
You give the time for the west coast as 8pm ET, then go on to say it won't be visible on the east coast at all. Then why give the time for the west coast as 8pm ET?
For those on the west coast, the time of the max part of the annular eclipse is about 6:30pm PT. Don't miss that small window of time if you are in the path where you can see the annular eclipse. It's only a 0-4 minute time frame depending on where you are. There's a good google map that you can get the exact time for your location.
Otherwise Alan, I do love your science and astronomy articles!
IT'S OBAMA'S FAULT!! (sorry, don't know what got into me) the compulsion has to do with every forum I visit.. no matter what's discussed, eventually politics enters the conversation.. Guess this will carry on that slap happy tradition.
says it all
So i guess it won't be seen in the Midwest?
''I fell in to a buring ring of fire,I went down down down and the flames went higher, and it burns, burns. burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire''/Johnny Cash
If you want to see the solar eclipse any time of the day, just stand behind Gov. Chris (crispy creme) Christie.
They missed one of the most important tips: have a clear sky. Here in Oregon today is sprinkling and cloudy. Hard to see the eclipse!
But as with most real Oregonians, my web feet got that way because of the rain, and I like it!
Two weeks of dry weather, and now the next storm moves in. Fortunately, it looks like the clouds are actually starting to thin out a bit, and the rain is supposed to hold off until later tonight. I like the rain as well, but c'mon...just a few more hours!
If not, there's always Slooh.
5 minutes to first contact
From Kingman Arizona watched a 95% eclipse and glowing hoop (about like the photo on this report) between 6:15 and 6:40 Arizona time. I and a friend used 2 stacked No# 8 welding glass lenses which eleminated all glare and made the image as sharp and clear as possible. Was a spectacular sight that lasted from about 5:30 pm until 7:30 start to finish
As it progressed it looked like the moon was being consumed by PACMAN. It also appeared we were in a red type haze for about 35 minutes
Did I miss it? I was staring at the sun and I can't see a thing anymore. Obama's fault.
The ancients long ago observed that we are impacted by the movement of the planets and stars. The earth, moon and sun is our cosmic trinity. The Sun represents the Soul – self-illuminated and radiant. The Moon represents the Mind – only able to reflect the light of the Soul and the Earth represents our finite existence.
The Sabian symbol for May 20, 2012 is “A glass-bottomed boat reveals undersea wonders".
This solar eclipse will bring tremendous light into the dark watery depths of the Unconscious Mind which usually remains locked and inaccessible. The Unconscious is the deepest part of our mind and is a container for buried thoughts, emotions, sensations and images from our collective human experiences. Even though the Unconscious remains hidden it can be controlling your life – when triggered it can bring forward strong irrational emotional responses.
The energy from the Solar Eclipse will force you to face and release the long buried greebly emotions – guilt, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, grief, sadness and terror. This energy will also bring into light the beliefs and soul patterns that you may have inherited ancestrally - the ones you have never dared to question. It is time to see in truth how they have stopped you from the realization of your True Spiritual Nature. Eclipses also bring a finality, a completion to a karmic pattern that has been running your life or perhaps lifetimes. Facing the Unconscious Mind with the courage of a spiritual warrior will bring you to a greater clarity of your hidden greatness and destiny in this incarnation. This is a time of major awakening. Receive these powerful transmissions of energy and be prepared to open to a whole new world within you – the kingdom of heaven..