Live Streaming/ Webcast of Total Solar Eclipse from Cairns, November 2012

Yet one more solar eclipse! Well, this time it's gonna be a total solar eclipse. Maybe you're already in Cairns or almost there, or somewhere in the South Pacific, which are the places to be, to be able to witness this amazing celestial phenomena. As I blog this post from Sri Lanka, there are few more hours left until the start of this total solar eclipse. So we're just about there. As for me, and those who couldn't manage to be in the right places, there is this wonderful tool, Internet facilitating us to watch the eclipse online, as numerous groups bring out their own live streams of the eclipse, and updates. Believe it or not there's gonna be even a hot-air balloon offering a live webcast of the eclipse.

Thanks to Thilina Heenatigala of AWB now we can have a list of web-streams of the total solar eclipse.

Don't miss out !!

Cairns Solar Eclipse, 2012
http://www.eclipse2012.org.au
The official destination website for the total solar Eclipse over Cairns and Great Barrier Reef will feature Terry Cuttle from the Astronomical Association of Queensland as the host. He will be joined by Kate Russo (eclipse chaser and author), Ben Southall (winner of the 'Best Job in the World' promotion and tourism ambassador), Richard Fitzpatrick (an underwater cameraman, will be live from under water) and Alan Hale (from Hale-Bopp comet who is studying comets close to the Sun which can only be seen during an eclipse).

2012 Eclipse live from a Cairns Hot Air Balloon
http://www.hotair.com.au
Up to a dozen hot air balloons floating west of Cairns, Queensland Australia, with visitors from 20 different countries will be part of a live webcast of the 2012 total solar eclipse.

SLOOH
http://events.slooh.com
SLOOH will broadcast a free, real-time feed of the stunning total solar eclipse live from Cairns, Australia. The broadcast team includes Patrick Paolucci, Bob Berman, Lucie Green, Matt Francis and Paul Cox.

Cairns City Eclipse 2012 webcam
http://www.eclipsecairns.com
Can't make it to Cairns to see the Eclipse? No problem! Just check back on 14 November before 6:39am AEST (GMT+10) to see it live on our webcam.

GLORIA Project
http://live.gloria-project.eu
Videos and pictures of the eclipse will be broadcast live on the internet starting at 20:30 UT. Additionally meteorological data will be collected to allow students to perform an interactive experiment. During the broadcast there will be live commentary in Spanish and English.

Live Web Camera from Port Douglas Australia 2012
http://www.zincportdouglas.com/solar_eclipse_port_douglas.html

Total Solar Eclipse 13/14 November 2012

Briefing

The next total solar eclipse is not that far away, We're about 2 weeks away from it. On 13th and 14th of November 2012 (UT) those who are located in Cairns, Australia and southern Pacific Ocean will have the chance of observing this. This time the greatest totality will last around 4 minutes of time with a magnitude of 1.05 Generally a solar eclipse will take place when the Moon passes in between Sun and the Earth, shading the solar view partially or fully relative to an observer based on Earth. The solar eclipse is said to be a total solar eclipse when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than that of Sun, completely obscuring the view of Sun and the corresponding areas of Earth will experience darkness during such an event. Thus the totality will be visible to observers located in a narrow traverse across the Earth's surface whilst a partial solar eclipse will be experienced in a broader region.

Where to be

If you could happen to be in Cairns, in northeastern Australia which is where most of the eclipse-chasers are going to rendezvous, you would be likely to observe a totality of 2 minutes at 20:38 UT (06:38 AEST on 14th of November) on 13th November. Thus it would be just after the daybreak with sun at an altitude of 14° in local time on 14th. Further islanders of Norfolk Island, east of Australia will encounter a partial solar eclipse with 98% of Sun covered at 09:37 NFT. Additionally, Auckland & Christchurch in New Zealand, and Los Ríos & Los Lagos regions of Chile will be other land masses that will undergo a partial solar eclipse. However if you don't want to miss the maximum totality, you have to be located somewhere in south Pacific Ocean, on east of the International Date Line on November 13, approximately 2000 km east of New Zealand, and 9600 km west of Chile. That is 4 minutes and 2 seconds to be exact.

How to view SAFE

It is really important to be savvy how to SAFELY observe a solar eclipse, for what you're playing with is sun and hence there shan't be any mistakes at all, for they would lead to irreversible damage to your eye. You should never directly look at the sun with the naked eye or with some optical devices such as telescopes binoculars. During a total solar eclipse, there are 3 phases which are the phase of totality and the ones before and after totality. However it is safe to view the solar eclipse without any filters, ONLY when there is the short phase of totality. It is imperative that safely precautions must be adhered to during the other 2 phases. One common solution is using the welder's goggles/ glasses with the rating 14 or higher, as they screen out the harmfulness.One of the safest methods on the other hand is the indirect projection. The image of the sun is projected onto a white piece of paper using binoculars (with one side covered), a telescope or another piece of cardboard which has been made into a pinhole camera (by making a small 1mm hole in it).

Live streaming of total solar eclipse 2012

It is true that most of us can't travel to Cairns or to be in a cruise in South Pacific Ocean during the time of the eclipse. Therefore there will be live webcast/ streaming via internet as the total eclipse will take place. A Google search will take you where you want. However nothing beats the exciting adventure of traveling to the eclipse site and observing it physically and only reminds me the eclipse chase tour to Jaffna, Sri Lanka in January 2010 for the annular solar eclipse.

Here are some useful websites especially dedicated to bringing you updates and news from Cairns.

www.eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://eclipse2012.org.au/
http://www.eclipse2012.com/


Courtesy : http://iya2009sl.blogspot.com/2012/10/total-solar-eclipse-1314-november-2012.html