Precaution : 2 Pinhole Projection of Solar Image

Solar Eclipses could be observed securely with the method of Pinhole Projection, which is described as follows. This is the process of obtaining an image of the Sun to a paper or a screen which enables to observe the Eclipse indirectly through the secondary image created in the paper/ screen.

Activity for Making a Pinhole for Pinhole Projection !!

First, a couple of thick card board is supplied. Then you should make a small home towards the center of the one of the card boards supplied. You might use a sharp pin for this or a pencil could also be used. Make sure that the hole is circular while you're performing this. Then this prepared card board is held perpendicular to the Solar rays and the other card board is held parallel to the prepared card board so that the image of the Sun is created in the second card board help parallel to the other. You can adjust the distance between the card boards to get a better image of the eclipse, Here you Go..



Now you can indirectly look at the eclipse by watching the latter card board, which will feature the eclipse at the same time !!
Simple optics for an eclipse watch !!

Anyone, even kids can try out this method individually and when it comes to practically looking at the eclipse it's better to have an adult supervising.

Precaution 1: Eclipse Glasses for Solar Eclipse 2010

Eclipse Glasses are a special type of Sun Glasses. Although Eclipse Glasses look somewhat similar to Sun Glasses, they differ from the latter due to the material, they're made of. Most of the times you could notice Eclipse glasses, made of card board and they're specially aimed at observing solar eclipses.

Here is an image of an eclipse glass


Additionally eclipse glasses are endorsed by scientists for the use of public when observing solar eclipses, such as the annular solar eclipse on 15th January 2010.

It's important to know that there are two types of eclipse glasses. The first category is that the eclipse glasses that feature a yellowish pink image of the sun and the other creates an image which is bluish. You can use either of these eclipse glasses when observing eclipses.

However please do not use sun glasses to observe the sun/ look at the sun as they're not supposed for that purpose. Eclipse Glasses are much darker than the sun Glasses and they are bot for the eclipse watch. They're simply not to be used to observe the eclipse, Otherwise you'll risk your eye sight and you may end up left blind permanently.

Methods to Observing Solar Eclipses (Targeted for 2010)

Although Sun is the biggest extra-terrestrial object that we notice, you might have found that it is difficult to keep looking at the Sun with your naked eye. This is because Sun's rays are too strong (Very bright and luminosity/ radiation is greater than other celestial objects) that we need to reduce their natural power to a very lower degree so that Sun could be observed. Therefore you might have wondered how one could really get about observing the Sun.

Well, if you have ever come across a situation where you wanted to observe a solar eclipse or a transit, especially Venus or Mercury transit (transit is a flyby of a planet/ object in the background of the Sun), you might have utilized the techniques/ precautions needed to secure the eye sight.

It's strongly recommended that you use precautionary methods to avoid possible irreversible damage to the eye whenever you're observing solar eclipses.

Now let's have a go-through of precautions that we can use when observing Sun.

A Talk at National Museum on 2010 Jan 15th Eclipse/Trip

There will be a talk, given by Professor Ravn U Ratnatunga on the 2010 Jan 15th Eclipse/Trip today (13th December 2009) @ the auditorium located at the National Museum, Sri Lanka. The talk will take place from 3.00 pm onwards.

The talk will be delivered to the Archeological Society of Sri Lanka. The Archeological Society of Sri Lanka is organizing a trip to Jaffna for eclipse, and the plans on how the trip will be taking place will be discussed at this meeting. If you are interested in joining this trip, please attend this meeting.



In addition to viewing historical Annular Solar Eclipse from Jaffna, on 15th January 2009, there will also be visits to important archaeological sites located in close proximity to Jaffna.

However, if you happen to miss this meeting and opt in to go please contact us at jdpdesh (@) gmail . com

An Animated GIF Visualizing the possible path of cental line of Eclipse January 2010

This is an animated GIF image that shows the paths of central line and penumbral shadow, which is in gray color. The areas covered with gray shadow are subject to observe a partial solar eclipse as per the animated eclipse graph. The small red dot refers to the umbral shodow of this annular eclipse on 15th January 2010.

The date is shown in the top left corner of the image, whereas the relevant corresponding UT/GMT time is shows in the top right region.

Moreover the lowermost time scale corresponds to the time duration that the central line will be visible in each area. As per this eclipse graph it is visible that the eclipse lasts more time in Sri Lanka and neighboring territories.

This valuable eclipse graph was created by Dr. Andrew Sinclair and I'd also take this occasion to extend my hearfelt thanks for the job done.

High Resolution PDF Image of Eclipse 2010 15th January

This is an image which depicts who the annular eclipse in January 2010 will look like in terms of global scope. There are also important data embedded to this image that reveal a lot of information about the eclipse's timely specifications.


Click here to receive the free PDF with explanatory attributes for the eclipse 2010.
This PDF is high resolution and the dark path along the equator shows the path of central line.

The Eclipse PDF is courtesy of http://www.eclipse.org.uk which offers a whole lot of information on eclipses.

Annular Solar Eclipse of January 15 2010

This would be a much looking-forward event for all those who are interested in Astronomy and Science in general. The biggest news is that the first Annular Solar Eclipse of 2010 will take place precisely on the Friday, the 15th of January 2010.

Luckily sun will cast moon's silhouette in a root which would be some 300 km in width, whereas the path travels a half of the Earth's circumference. Literally this means that the moon's shadow will travel more than 20,000 km across the earth, giving the earthlings a fine chance to witness a solar eclipse.

As per the calculations antumbral lunar shadow will commence its journey from Africa, hovering upon Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia in the African continent. Then the path will approach Indian Ocean. The eclipse is expected to reach its maximum duration of annularity, which would be 11 minutes and 08 seconds.

Sri Lanka & India (South India) simultaneously will be the first Asian lands that are kissed by the eclipse. Then the central path will continue through Bangladesh, Burma, and China giving observers and scientists a life time experience.

However a partial eclipse is also observed within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral silhouette. The possible areas include eastern Europe, most of Africa, Asia, and Indonesia.