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Just a reminder there's a partial solar eclipse happening tomorrow for those in Hawaii. Hopefully the weather cooperates. From the ISS thread:
"For Hawaii it will start around 4:27pm and ends at 6:32pm with the maximum occurring at 5:37pm. At maximum, about half the sun will be eclipsed by the moon.
Please remember not to look at the sun directly without some filtering device (sunglasses don't count!). Even during an eclipse you can do serious damage to your eyes by looking at the sun. If you don't have something to protect your eyes but have a pair of binoculars, then you can point the binoculars at the sun (please don't look through the binoculars directly while doing this, you will do serious damage to your eyes) and hold a piece of paper a foot or so behind the binoculars. You should get a projected image of the eclipsed sun without blinding yourself!"
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"Even during an eclipse you can do serious damage to your eyes by looking at the sun. If you don't have something to protect your eyes but have a pair of binoculars, then you can point the binoculars at the sun (please don't look through the binoculars directly while doing this, you will do serious damage to your eyes)"
Binoculars are not idiot proof!
Make sure everyone around you knows not to look at the sun through binoculars, tell them at least three times!
I would not even have them around if children are present, it's like a loaded gun.
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I have often made pinhole projectors, even when I had to do field work & wanted to know what was happing with the sun
Make a small hole in a pice of cardstock, stiff plastic, sturdy aluminum foil (hence pinhole, but can be larger, just have to adjust the length of your projection)
with the hole aligned with the sun, project the image onto a light sheet of paper, wall, concrete.... you will need to work the system to project the sun through the pinhole & on to the light colored surface..only look at the light surface & you will be working with a shadow....
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-...ector.html
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Socked in up here, but it does seem noticeably darker than usual for 5:30pm.
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I've been watching the event using solar filters, although I doubt I need to given the cloud. Just occasionally the cloud thins enough for the sun's disk to be visible, and the eclipse can be seen. Very beautiful.
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I was able to see the eclipse, mostly unobstructed, in my pinhole projector up until about 5:20, then the partial sun was too obstructed to cast a shadow into my pinhole...but I did get to see a lot of the partial eclipse, so it was worth sacrificing a paper plate for the pinhole projector!
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Thank you for your sacrifice to science!
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Very cloudy here, but the clouds had an peachy tint.
><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>
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PM2, the darkness you noticed was more likely due to the clouds than the eclipse. Although the moon does block light from the sun during a partial solar eclipse, it really only becomes noticeable to the eye when about 3/4 or more of the sun is obscured. For a case like today, when about half the sun was obscured, your eyes will adapt.
