Page 22 - March 2024 News On 7

PREPARING FOR THE SOLAR ECLIPSE ON APRIL 8TH WRITTEN BY: TIMOTHY BOWDEN

Residents of central Hastings County should already know that a total solar eclipse will pass near this area about
3:22 in the afternoon of Monday April 8th 2024. This total eclipse will be visible from Belleville, Prince Edward
County and Kingston. Information on the timing and path of the total eclipse can be found on the NASA eclipse
website {https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5123/}, There are informative YouTube videos, such as that at
{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEL1m91odvY} which may help the more serious photog-rapher enjoy and
record the event. Seeing a total eclipse is an experience of a lifetime.
Residents of central Hastings County who are unable to travel on that day will still experience a more than 95%
eclipse of the sun. This will command attention. Here’s some advice for those who want to prepare for seeing
the eclipse from central Hastings County.
1.First bit of advice: Don’t look at the Sun!
Most people would not be willing to look or stare at the sun, except near dawn or sunset when its brightness is
much reduced from daytime. There is a good reason for this. The lens of the human eye focuses the radiation of
a distant bright source like the sun to a small area on the retina, the network of light sensors and nerves that
covers the interior of our eyeball and that enables us to see. Were we to stare at the sun, the radiation exposure
experienced by the retina would amount to about 100 Watts per square centimetre within the image of the sun.
The retina is an outgrowth of the neural tissues of the brain in vertebrates, so staring at the sun can be
compared to toasting (with an electric radiant toaster) a part of the living brain. Not nice! Permanent damage to
the retina and visual disability is likely to result from anything longer than a brief glance at the sun.
You may think that a 98% eclipse might give you an exemption from this hazard, but it doesn’t. As long as even
2% of the suns’s bright face is visible, staring at it may damage your vision! Like-wise, if you point an electronic
camera at the 98% eclipsed sun, you risk damaging it.
2.Second bit of advice: If you prepare, you can see the eclipse an-yway!
If you prepare yourself, you can use several workarounds to enable observation of the mostly-eclipsed sun. You
can buy ND100000 lens filters for your camera, designed and sold for solar photography. I took Photograph #1
of the partial eclipse last October with such a camera filter on a telephoto lens. The partial block of the sun by
the moon, and little else, is clearly seen.

You can also buy special solar eclipse eyeglasses for directly viewing the sun, such as those in Photograph #2 from Amazon
or even, possibly, local stores. These should meet the ISO standard 12313-2 and reference to this standard should be in
their catalogue or packaging. Ordinary sun-glasses are not enough for this role!
If it is too late to get these special eyeglasses, you can improvise a pin-hole camera which will pro-ject an image of the
eclipsed sun on a screen or piece of paper so that you can view it without risk of injury. See, for example
{https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/how-to-make-a-pinhole-camera/}. Often everyday objects with holes in
them, like a kitchen colander,(See Photo-graph #3 or a defective umbrella or awning will produce images of the eclipsed
sun. My nephew living in Dallas, Texas captured Photograph #4 showing the light of the eclipsed sun filtering through tree
leaves during last October’s eclipse. Each spot of light recorded the apparent shape of the sun above. Unfortunately, this
option will not be available in Hastings County on April 8th!
Third bit of advice: Don’t expect too much!
It is far too early to forecast the weather in Hastings County on April 8th. It could range from a late-winter snowstorm to a
warm and sunny early spring day. In the latter case, if you are pre-pared, you may enjoy making your own memories or
records of the eclipse, otherwise don’t think that your preparation is wasted. You will experience the partial darkening of
the sky (although it won’t seem quite like 95%) and the weather may become distinctly colder during the eclipse. And you
will have gained a lot of understanding about your world just by preparing to observe this remarkable event.