When (and how) to see the partial solar eclipse on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014—with apologies to '80s chanteuse Bonnie Tyler.
by Hilltromper staff
Oct. 21, 2014—Turn around, Bright Eyes: look sharp this Thursday, when the earth moves through the moon's shadow, covering almost half of the sun. Forty-nine percent, to be exact, making this neither a total eclipse of the sun nor a total eclipse of the heart—but a pretty dang cool partial eclipse of our solar system's principal player. The best time for viewing in Santa Cruz will be at 3:17pm.
Every now and then the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and we know we got to get out and try ... to see what it looks like. (Sorry. Child of the '80s.)
According to National Geographic, when the deepest, darkest part of the moon's shadow—the "umbra"—aligns perfectly with the sun we get a total eclipse. This Thursday, Oct. 23, we'll be seeing the moon's wider shadow cone, or "penumbra," cross the solar disc, so—not that perfect alignment. Nat Geo says this is a great warm-up for the total solar eclipse expected on Aug. 21, 2017, which should offer a "zone of totality" from Oregon to North Carolina.
This will surely be a reminder that every now and then ancient humans used to get a little bit terrified, but then they'd see the sun in the skies.
Don't stare directly at it, lest you find yourself blinded and always in the dark, living in a powder keg and giving off sparks. That would be bad. (Ouch, there we go again ... sorry!) Business Insider recommends using a pasta strainer to view the partial eclipse. Turn around (oh boy) so your back is to the sun and hold up the colander so the sun is shining through it onto something solid, like the side of a building or a sheet of paper. You'll see the shadow of little crescents in each of the colander's pinholes.
The moon is like a shadow on it part of the time.... There's nothing in the universe as magical and wondrous as this.
And now, in case you forgot the lyrics to the raspy-voiced Bonnie Tyler's hit 1983 single "Total Eclipse of the Heart," here it is:
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