The 9,100-mile-long track of a solar eclipse passed over South Whidbey Monday, when observers saw what appeared to be a bite taken out of the sun.
In the Pacific Northwest, the sun’s diameter was obscured by about 30 to 60 percent as the moon’s shadow fell upon the Earth’s surface along a narrow track that averaged only about 26 miles in width. People looking outside during the 6 p.m. hour probably noticed a subtle change in the sky’s illumination, an almost flat light that had a slightly unearthly quality.
Other observers used one of several methods to watch the eclipse itself. In front of the Dog House Restaurant in Langley, Pete Saltwick aimed the large end of a pair of binoculars toward the sun and projected its image out of the eyepiece onto the sidewalk.
“Also on my shoe, and my hand, which really burned,” Saltwick said.
The sun’s partially eclipsed image appeared as if came from a projector onto a screen.
A partial eclipse visible to a large part of North America took place most recently Dec. 14.
Monday’s eclipse was larger in magnitude farther to the west and south. In San Francisco it was 72 percent at 6:16 p.m.; in Phoenix, 73 percent; and San Diego, 80 percent at 6:24 p.m. The island of Guam lay about 25 miles south of the eclipse track and saw nearly 98 percent of the sun’s diameter obscured by the passing new moon.
Medical experts note that an eclipse should be never be viewed with the naked eye, even with sunglasses. The result can be “eclipse blindness.”
The best way to view an eclipse is through glasses made with special filters expressly designed for viewing the sun, available at some science and astronomy stores. Or, suggests Fred Espenak of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, get a piece of number 14 welder’s glass from a welding supply store.
“Being able to hold this up to your eye and look directly at the eclipse just gives people the most amount of satisfaction,” Espenak said on the Web site www.space.com.
The next solar eclipses visible over North America, also partial (or annular), are scheduled to occur May 30, 2003, when Alaska and parts of adjacent Northwest Canada will see 50 to 80 percent coverage at around local sunset. Then, on Oct. 13, 2004, a large partial solar eclipse will take over western Alaska, again at sunset. Near the town of Kenai, southwest of Anchorage, nearly 93 percent of the sun will be eclipsed.
But the next time a solar eclipse will be visible over a large swath of North America, as was the case June 10, won’t come again until May 20, 2012. Start saving now for welder’s glass.
