The "Great American" Solar Eclipse

This upcoming solar eclipse is almost exclusive to the continental US, and all of the US will see it, in some fraction. It is, I think, going to change American lives, in some pretty profound ways.

Most of us have seen lunar eclipses, or, eclipses of the moon. But most of us (myself excluded), have never seen a total eclipse of the sun.

Graphic Created by Dale Alan Bryant.

Lunar eclipses are, pretty much, non-interactive events. If we don't happen to look up at the moon, we might miss it, entirely. Not so with a total eclipse of the sun. For those fortunate enough to be in the 'path of totality,  it will envelop them completely. They won't be able to escape it. But, total solar eclipses involve us in ways we wouldn't expect: Here's what I remember from the total solar eclipse I saw when I was a kid, from Woods Hole, Mass:

* Even though the solar eclipse I saw from Woods Hole was total, and this upcoming eclipse is partial, for most of the U.S., it will get dark enough in the eastern half of the country at mid-eclipse, that, if we're driving, we'll have to put the headlights on! If you're inside, you might want to turn on some lamps - for a few minutes anyway.

* When the moon begins to clear the face of the sun, the birds will begin singing - thinking that it's dawn again!

* For, possibly, the very first time - you will see whole crowds of people become silent. Everyone will start whispering.

This is not only a visual event but a mental and spiritual one, as well. It's the kind of event that turns kids into amateur astronomers - and into professional ones, when they grow up!

The eclipse will bring people together in ways we rarely get to witness.

Dale Alan Bryant
Senior Contributing Science Writer

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ATEO Ready for First Light

Insight Observatory's Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO) is ready for first light! The six-year dream and vision we at Insight Observatory had to set up a remote online telescope for educational and leisure purposes are now complete. Special thanks to our telescope's host at SkyPi Remote Observatory for being the professionals they are in helping to fulfill our dream. Their persistence and skills to complete the installation were second to none. John Evelan, a Managing Partner of SkyPi, was instrumental in upgrading the FLI PDF focuser on the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph imaging telescope for more precise focusing.

The Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Ready for First Light. Photo by Caleb Ramer.

After the collimation of the mirrors and polar alignment were completed, the crew at SkyPi completed the final tasks of a T-point run. This is where TheSky (the software that controls the mount for the telescope) captures images all over the sky and then makes a "model" of how accurately the telescope is pointing. Later on, during normal usage, TheSky software will use this model so that pointing is accurate no matter where you slew the scope.

The next step is to be patient and wait for the weather to clear up in New Mexico. Unfortunately, it is monsoon season there now and the skies are not cooperating so much. However, the forecast is calling for clearing skies for most of the upcoming week.

The Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Awaiting for Clearing Skies. Photo by Caleb Ramer.

Our goal will be to test the system thoroughly utilizing the TheSky software directly from the computer. When we are satisfied that everything is functioning, we will then integrate with the ATEO Portal that our systems engineer, Muir Evenden, has developed to allow the remote telescope system to be accessible to the public via the internet.

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Observe August’s Eclipse with an AM Radio

Solar eclipses are more than exceptional visual astronomical phenomena; they’re pretty interesting from a radio viewpoint too. Should it be cloudy over your location on eclipse day, you can still make some interesting observations using a basic AM radio.

Sudden changes can take place in radio reception when the day changes into night and vice versa. Perhaps you’ve had the experience of driving in your car at night, listening to some program on the AM dial, when the announcer will identify the station as WBBM in Chicago. This might seem odd if you are listening from Albany, New York, more than 700 miles (1,100 km) from the Windy City. Yet, cases like this happen every night.

At night, electrons in the ionosphere's F2 layer can refract radio waves broadcast by AM stations, allowing them to be picked up by receivers many hundreds of miles away. This schematic shows the ionosphere reflecting the waves, though actually, they refract along curved arcs when passing through the ionosphere. Adapted from Wikipedia Commons

A total solar eclipse produces an expansive, round area of darkness and greatly reduced sunlight that travels across Earth’s surface in a relatively narrow path during the daytime. Its effect on sunlight’s local intensity is remarkably similar to what happens at sunrise and sunset. Distant radio stations along and near to the path of totality might briefly experience enhanced propagation, thus making long-distance reception possible during a solar eclipse, unlike any other time.

We can thank Earth’s ionosphere for natural long-distance radio reception at night. The ionosphere is composed of a set of tenuous, electrically conductive layers that consist of both neutral and charged particles, extending from altitudes of approximately 30 miles (50 km) to more than 250 miles (400 km). The ions present in the ionosphere interact with radio waves in two ways. They can either absorb the waves, thus reducing their intensity and reducing signal strength, or they can refract the waves, changing their direction; conceptually this is akin to a radio-wave "mirror".

Read Full Source Article at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/2017-total-solar-eclipse/how-to-hear-the-solar-eclipse/

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