‘RING OF FIRE’ May 20, 2012 Solar Eclipse Starting 5:30 pm PDT (7:30 pm CDT)

http://www.livescience.com/20328-solar-eclipse-20-2012.html ^ | May 17, 4:17

[Yosemitest]

Updated May 17, 4:17 pm ET

The next solar eclipse will grace the afternoon and early evening skies over much of the United States this Sunday (May 20), offering up a spectacular site for those lucky enough to see it.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets directly between Earth and the sun. Sunday’s event will be an partial solar eclipse across most of the United States and Canada, and a more compelling annular solar eclipse for a narrow swath of residents in the West and Southwest. The sun sets before any of it will be visible from the East Coast, however.

During the annular eclipse, the moon will be analogous to a black dime in front of a shiny penny, with a thin “ring of fire” — sunlight that streams around the moon.... (continued)

[Yosemitest]

Get out and be a part of it.

[ml/nj]

That's not what it is going to look like. This is not at total eclipse of the sun anywhere on earth. Anyone who stares directly at the sun without a solar filter even at the time of maximum eclipse risks permanently damaging his vision.

ML/NJ

[Yosemitest]

Look at it through a welding shield smoked glass.

[svcw]

Just make a little viewing box, fun project and you can see the whole event.

[Paladin2]

Project it onto a piece of paper using binoculars held over your shoulder.

[umgud]

I’ll use my welding helmut, but I’ll also try some digital pics. Local news story has every outlet in town sold out of welding goggles.

[Selene]

Here is the live video from N California

http://www.kcra.com/video/31089865/detail.html

[Paladin2]

http://spaceweather.com/sunspots/doityourself.html

[Jack Hydrazine]

You can watch it live here with running commentary.
http://events.slooh.com/

[Yosemitest]

Watch Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse on May 20, 2012 - Visible in US on YouTube.com

and more info available at May 20 2012 Annular Eclipse LIVE from Area 51 on Scottys Sky.

[Dogbert41]

In the movie, “Big Trouble in Little China”, Jack Burton looked.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Looked at what?

[Dogbert41]

Into the light. They had to splash water from the gutter into his eyes till he could see again. I guess you had to see the movie...

[ml/nj]

I don't need to watch anything. I've seen these eclipses myself. Usually there are all sorts of warnings about looking at the sun directly even during a total eclipse. During totality there is really no problem as only about the same amount of light presents as it does with a full moon. But almost no one actually gets to see a total eclipse, and looking directly at the sun even when it is 99.9% covered is hazardous. During an annular (Annular means ring, referring to the outer ring of the sun which is not obscured; not to be confused with annual.) a lot more than 0.1 % of the sun is always visible; and so it is always hazardous to view such things without a filter.

My guess is that the thing is over by now and whoever is going to suffer eye damage will have suffered it. But FR shouldn't be a place where one might get the impression that such thing a safe to stare at.

ML/NJ

[Inyo-Mono]

My guess is that the thing is over by now and whoever is going to suffer eye damage will have suffered it.

Actually, it has just started here in northern California. The moon is now about a third of the way into covering the Sun.

[Salvation]

Wear eye protection if you watch this.

[sockmonkey]

I remember watching my first annular eclipse at about age 9. I remember worrying...what if it just stops, and it stays like this forever when the sun disappeared.

[NormsRevenge]

San Jose here and it’s real dark at 620 PM.

[liege]

It's definitely darker outside, just south of Sack a Tomatoes. We look through a silver CD. It filters out enough to see the eclipse.

But why am I seeing spots?...

[CrazyIvan]

“Look at it through a welding shield smoked glass.”

Laid back on the lawn chair in shorts, welding helmet, and a
cold beer. Glad I live in the country. Neighbors in town
might think this odd behavior.

[Yosemitest]

We have the ring now at 8:35 pm CDT.

[sockmonkey]

Ring of Fire over NM right now. Cool.

[steve86]

UV goes right through that CD. Hope you aren’t a casualty. There are two very prominent sunspot groups.

[liege]

Just a quick glance. We usually see the images filtered through the tree leaves projected onto the garage door.

[jesseam]

In August of 2017 there will be a total eclipse for the United States running from the Pacific NW to the Atlantic SE.

[beaversmom]

LOL :)

[waxer1]

Yes indeed. All of us neighbors ended up together looking. Did it
The old fashioned way poke a hole in paper look at reflected on another. The wonder of God’s power on full display. Here in southern Arizona.

[skeeter]

Los Gatos. I don’t know why it should surprise me but its gotten noticeably cooler, too.

[NormsRevenge]

big drop in temp for sure.. it was 88 a couple hours ago, now its 68

[SpaceBar]

Observed it from Albuquerque. Simple projection on a white piece of cardboard behind a building free of obstructions. The onset was fast but the actual occlusion seemed slow. The annular ring was perfect. At one point all shadowed edges became knife edge centers of diffraction giving peculiar outlines to objects, perhaps inspiring ancient cultures and iconography.

[Delta 21]

Western Kansas. Folks were turning on their headlights 30 minutes before the sun went down.

[Gator113]

Thank you for posting that link.

We were able to watch it outside, but because of our location, we were only able to see the crescent.

After coming in, I found your link and that topped off the experience.

[Selene]

Inland it was 90, now 78. Also, there was a strange wind (or I should say breeze) for about 20 minutes. Seems like the whole neighborhood was out watching, walking their dogs or jogging.

[Gator113]

Thank you for posting that link.

We were able to watch it outside, but because of our location, we were only able to see the crescent.

After coming in, I found your link and that topped off the experience.

[SZonian]

Used a piece of exposed 35mm film to see it from here.

[poindexters brother]

Used a piece of exposed 35mm film to see it from here

I hope it was exposed B&W film. Exposed color film provides little UV filtering. At least that's what I've always been told.

[Can i say that here?]

Took the kids out and tried to have some fun getting pics of the eclipse. We only had a small one here in SW Missouri

[thane1944]

West side of El Paso, TX. local Jr High has unobstructed view to horizon. Took 3 grand children, my oldest daughter who is a second grade teacher here made a pinhole camera from a cereal box. not a complete annular eclipse but pretty spectacular as it was.

[RandallFlagg]

This is from Wheat Ridge, Colorado with my iPhone.
Couldn't get the actual eclipse, but I was able to capture the lens effect to the right of the glare.

[Dusty Road]

From West TX

[shove_it]

24 photo slide-show from Western USA to Japan and other Asian locales ...

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/rare-eclipse-crosses-asia-slideshow/

[Yosemitest]

I think I like this one best of the 24.

[shove_it]

My fave is photo #1 from New Mexico with the faint windmill image ...