Solar Eclipse

Here is my coverage of the March 9 Partial Solar Eclipse as seen from Project 6, Quezon City, Philippines. I setup my Sky-Watcher Explorer 150PL with my Baader solar filter for imaging and my Celestron Travelscope 70 with black polymer filter for visual observation. The initial forecast in the morning suggested partly cloudy skies but was fortunate to get good conditions except for the end of the eclipse.

The umbral shadow will pass through the waters of Indonesia giving us only a partial view. Originally the plan was for me and my friends from the International School for Young Astronomers to meet back at Indonesia for the eclipse but we weren't able to do so. Instead I took a leave today from work to cover the eclipse. As the eclipse progressed I tried to share the observations to the general public via Facebook.

The rest of the astronomical community are dispersed in different areas to cover the eclipse. In the coming days I hope I can feature the different solar eclipse activities here.

Partial Annular Solar Eclipse

I missed the partial annular solar eclipse yesterday since my tripod was damaged and I had no accessible sight. Anyways, I'm glad to see the different astronomy groups and astronomy enthusiasts having their observations all around and being covered by the media.

Here are some eclipse photos taken by Jonathan Ponce Javier from Mines View Park in Baguio City.

Solar Eclipse

On July 22, there will be a total solar eclipse. However, for the Philippines, the eclipse is only observable as a partial solar eclipse.

The duration of the eclipse will be from 8:48 - 11:08 in the morning. Depending where you are in the Philippines, the maximum of the eclipse would be at around 49.3%. The Astronomical League of the Philippines will have an expedition to Wuhan, China to document the total solar eclipse. You can read about it in ALP's website (click the link on the sidebar).

Now, if you would browse the net, there are a lot of misconceptions on how to safely view a solar eclipse. It is UNSAFE to use the following, i repeat, UNSAFE:
color film, black and white film with no silver (chromogenic film), film negatives with images, smoked glass, sunglasses, photographic neutral density filters, and polarizing filters.

There are solar filters that can be used but you have to be sure those are the appropriate filters. Probably the safest way to view the solar eclipse is by projecting the image to a screen, however I advice you to do so with someone who has experience in solar projection/solar astronomy.