USVI-On-Line

We are usually more interested in watching sunsets than sunrises, but for anyone on island (or elsewhere in the VI) on the morning of Sunday, November 3rd, the sunrise will deliver a special treat: a partial eclipse of the sun! The eclipse begins about twelve minutes before sunrise (6:20 AM), so the sun will rise with a bit of a nick already visible. It reaches its peak at 7:05 AM, when the sun will be about ten degrees above the horizon. At that time, the sun will look like a crescent, with the moon blocking 70% of the sun. The sun's heat should feel noticeably cooler. It's all over at 8:11 AM, when the sun is 24 degrees above the horizon, as the last bit of the moon slides off the solar disc. There is a narrow strip along the earth where the solar eclipse is total, but that track lies far above the VI, in the mid-Atlantic. The eclipse is mostly a no-show from the US mainland, where the Eastern seaboard would see only a small nick out of the sun for a few minutes after it rises.

You really need to take the proper precautions to protect your eyes; trying to see the eclipse any time after the sunrise itself risks serious eye damage. If your villa lacks a telescope or binoculars, a simple set of cardboard eclipse glasses will offer complete protection; a set of ten is on Amazon (and eligible for Prime shipping) here for less than a buck each:
http://www.amazon.com/Eclipser-Viewing- ... se+glasses

If you do have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, you can cut a piece of solar mylar film and fit it securely over the lens or lenses with a rubber band or tape. Here is an inexpensive source for safe solar mylar (again, Amazon Prime; a 4" x 4" sheet costs $10, and larger sizes are available):
http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Filter-Tele ... ters+mylar

Finally, a really low-tech way to watch the progress of the eclipse is to simply take a sheet of cardboard and punch a hole in it with a pencil. Set it up ten feet or so from a wall, and the the sun will form an image in the shadow of the cardboard about an inch in diameter; setting it 20 feet away will double the size of the solar image to 2".

Folks out towards Coral Bay have a real head start on this one. Our family once caught a total solar eclipse on the island of Aruba in February; in this case 100% of the sun was blocked, and the stars and planets came out. It was literally "Darkness at Noon". Very cool.

Enjoy!

All the best,

Kevin

Kevin, thank you for sharing this information... do you think the view from Virgin Gorda would be good that morning? Maybe from Gorda Peak????

lprof: Absolutely; unlike total eclipses, the partial ones are pretty forgiving in location; the eclipse details and timings barely vary within a 50 mile radius. All you need (beyond eye protection) is a pretty unobstructed view twenty degrees south of due east. Do report back on what you see!

I should lower expectations just a wee bit, and mention that while 70% of the sun will be covered at the peak of the eclipse, perception is logarithmic, not linear - the sun's output being reduced by 70% is not experienced the same as 70% of the way from day to night. As a tyke in Atlantic City, I witnessed a partial eclipse with a 92% obscuration, and was surprised to find that it seemed that there were merely thin, high clouds dimming the sun. The view through eclipse glasses or a properly filtered pair of binoculars or telescope, on the other hand, will be rewardingly dramatic.

Oh, and it seems only topical to mention here that Columbus, who discovered and named the Virgin Islands during his second voyage, used an eclipse (a lunar one, this time) to avoid starvation or worse while stranded on the north coast of Jamaica during his fourth voyage. Details here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic ... d_Columbus

All the best,

Kevin

If I'm awake I'll try to catch it from Plumeria! I usually wake up early on STJ, but we usually have an East facing villa... I may sleep late this year!

I figured that I would bump this as a reminder for anyone on island tomorrow morning. This week has been pretty dreadful from a weather perspective, but satellite imagery indicates that this should break, and let the sun back out. The partial solar eclipse would make for a nice photo-op, as per the first photo below, and in the event that you forgot to bring the proper eye protection, there are many other creative ways to view the eclipse (second photo). Both photos are courtesy of NASA's awesome Astronomy Photo of the Day website; if you haven't been there yet, do check it out: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

All the best,

Kevin