Friday 20 March 2015

Solar Eclipse 2015

       

So today was the big day. We had all been waiting in excited anticipation for this dramatic event and we were not disappointed. The day started off with cloudy skies and we did worry that, like the 1999 eclipse, we would miss the sighting, but luckily the sky began to clear. There was a thin layer of cloud moving around the sky but it did not disrupt our view in any way. 

We headed to my parents house to watch the eclipse as they have a large garden. Also, my Dad is an amateur astronomer and has all the equipment, so I was confident he would know the best way to view the eclipse.

        

I was surprised to see that my Dad had managed to find our special eclipse glasses from the 1999 total solar eclipse! I can't believe he had kept them this long and, more importantly, had actually been able to find them again!

             

The big telescope had already been set up by the time we had arrived.

       

We also had a smaller telescope set up at a lower level which was the perfect height for the children to view the sun comfortably. We had been learning about the solar eclipse over the last few days, mainly by doing some solar eclipse crafts!. Here you can see how we learnt about it.

          

We managed to see it very clearly by projecting the image of the sun onto a sheet of white paper.

           

Here you can see that less of the sun is covered.

           

       

This was the image of the sun at it's most hidden at about 9.30am. About 90% of it was covered by the moon.

           

The children enjoyed looking at the sun through the special eclipse glasses. I explained to them that we couldn't look at the sun with our naked eyes as it was so bright it could damage our eyes. They did enjoy trying on the glasses.

            

Here R is having a go with the glasses. He looks like he's really enjoying the view!

       

Here he is again, this time looking at the image of the sun projected onto the white paper.

       

We also tried using a colander to view the eclipse which proved to be quite fascinating. What we could see were loads of tiny little crescent shapes projected onto the white paper.

       

Using a colander was by far the easiest way to sight the eclipse. You simply had to hold up the colander and look at the paper. With the telescope you had to move it around to get it pointing directly at the sun which was a bit more difficult as it took a while to get it pointing in the right direction. Overall, we had a fascinating morning. My Dad was even live on the local radio talking about it! Now we await the next solar eclipse in 2026!



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27 comments

  1. Ok, that thing you did with the colander? Pretty darn cool!

    Unfortunately the eclipse was a complete no go in London as we had thick cloud cover, grr.

    I did at least see the 1999 one though, hehe.

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    1. Yes the colander was cool! I only heard about viewing it like that the other day. My sisters also live in London and didn't see anything :( you are lucky to have seen the 1999 eclipse though, that was a total eclipse so really spectacular.

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  2. Its great you seen the eclipse! We never got a chance to see it unfortunately as it was too cloudy here.

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    1. That's a shame Melissa. Maybe you can watch some clips online.

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  3. Unfortunately we had 100% cloud cover at the appointed hour - disappointing for the kids - although at least I recorded the BBC coverage to show them later. Such a shame.

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    1. Lot's of people saying it was too cloudy. I guess we were quite lucky this time then!

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  4. You made it into a lovely event, I think the kids were delighted, so sweet. I have a lot of pictures from the eclipse, it was lovely and I can wait for the one in 2026 :)

    Anca @ ancaslifestyle | UK

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  5. Lucas says - I am really jealous about this. We were allowed to go into school late so we could watch the Eclipse with our Big People. We had loads of cloud so didn't really see a lot of it but I got to go into school late........ YAY!!!!

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    1. lol. Well at least he enjoyed getting a few hours off school!

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  6. Oh wow prepared and made such a great event for the kids. It was too gloomy here so we didn't get to see anything. Boo. Lovely post. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme

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    1. You're welcome :) such a shame you couldn't see anything.

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    2. We had a great view in the Midlands, I went out with my neighbour and thought it was fabulous.
      Great post.

      #UKBloggers

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  7. I wish I had read your post before the big day, I never thought to project the light onto paper and well done your Dad for finding his glasses from 1999. I love all the learning that has come out of this for you, I was embroiled in taking the kids to school, the feed run and a few snaps on my camera, not the same at all. thank you for sharing on Country Kids.

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    1. Oh i suppose i could have done a how to watch the eclispe post beforehand. Didn't think of that!

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  8. Wow your dad looked well prepared! Well done for capturing it through the colander, we didn't see anything in London except cloud :(

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    1. yes he is an amateur astronomer so took it very seriously. lol

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  9. I saw it and took a few pics on my phone, but they didn't come out very well. Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

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    1. Glad you managed to get some pics too :)

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  10. I watched it from Lisburn in Northern Ireland and it was really fab. Love the colander idea. A lovely extra dimension. #sharewithme

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  11. I didn't know that you can use a colander to watch the eclipse!
    I actually missed the whole thing, as I was having a shower...
    #brilliantblogposts

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  12. This looks fab, we just had lots of cloud here, I love the colander photo x

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  13. Fab idea! Husband took great pics! Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts x

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  14. Amazing! You have a lot of gadgets to see the eclipse. I wish I have prepared more. I didnt see if but felt the cold air when the moon is covering the sun! A lovely experience. #countrykids

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