Eclipse of the Moon: advance notice!

After all the excitement of the solar eclipse, it's good to know that there will be an excellent follow-up this September.


On the 28th September, with a maximum at 3,47 am, there will be a Total Eclipse of the Moon.
This is where the a full Moon will move into the Earth's shadow and become darkened.

Because light can still reach the Moon by being refracted by the Earths atmosphere, the moon does not go totally dark. However, it does usually turn red as it is the red part of the Sun's white light that is refracted the most and reaches the Moon.

I wonder what a lunar eclipse would look like to someone who is watching it from the surface of the Moon?

Here is a link to details about this upcoming eclipse

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/ireland/dublin?iso=20150928

ECLIPSE DAY: URU NA GREINE!

As it was Seachtain na Gaeilge, we decided to observe the partial solar eclipse bilingually!




Here are some reports form TY Astronomy students Jamie and Evan:

Tar eis Uru na Greine

Today, the 20^th March 2015, was the solar eclipse. Although it was very cloudy we were still able to see the solar eclipse as there was a break in the clouds. The eclipse began at around 8:30 for us living in Ireland and the maximum eclipse lasted for a total of 2minutes and 47 seconds.

The eclipse had many impacts on us. One of these effects was that electricity grids running off of solar energy would have had a massive decrease as the sun light was blocked out by the moon. It also became much colder outside due to the moon blocking the suns light and heat.

Uru ne Greine: Tuairisc

On the 20^th of March 2015, a partial solar eclipse happened from 8:30am in the morning to 10:30am in the morning. The weather was cloudy and this really affected the outcome of the eclipse as it made it difficult to observe with our pieces of paper with a hole in them to try and project an image of the sun onto the piece of paper. However the sun did come out eventually and we did see only 10% of the sun as the moon was blocking it out as we projected the image onto the piece of paper.

How the eclipse happens

The eclipse

The Moon orbits the Earth once a month, and eclipses happen when it lines up exactly with the Earth and the Sun. here are some types:

• Solar eclipses occur at New Moon, when the Moon is between Earth and the Sun.
• Lunar eclipses occur at Full Moon, when Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.

There are at least two eclipses of the Sun each year, though most are partial.

How the eclipse happens                              What a TOTAL eclipse looks like

 

 

 

Andrew Lynam

SOLAR ECLIPSE APPROACHES

The Solar Eclipse

What is a solar eclipse?

 A solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the sun and the moon, which obscures the image of the sun. A total solar eclipse is when sun is completely blocked due to the apparent diameter of the moon is bigger than the sun. There are also partial eclipses where the sun is not fully blocked. This year’s solar eclipse is also going to affect the EU’s solar power, they currently have 90 gigawatts of power but when the solar eclipse takes place the power gained will only be 34 gigawatts if there is a clear sky. Temperatures may decrease by 3 degrees and the wind may be reduced by over 0.7 m/s.

How rare is a solar eclipse?

This year, in 2015, the solar eclipse will take place on the 20^th March. The next total solar eclipse that will be visible in Europe after this is supposed to take place on August 12 2026. Prior to the 2015 eclipse there was a total solar eclipse in 2006 but it was not visible to Ireland

Here is a photo of the Moons shadow on the Earth the 2006 eclipse, seen from the International Space Station

Evan Wolfe