Locals observe partial eclipse

Submitted by
Shirlee Arnould

On May 20th, amateur astronomer Bill Arnould, of Rainy River, unpacked the smaller of two telescopes from it’s box and gave family and friends a real treat observing a partial solar eclipse.
An annular solar eclipse is when the Moon comes between the Earth and the sun casting a shadow on the sun’s light, but is too far away from the earth to completely block it.
“You have to be very careful when lining the telescope up to project it onto a piece of white paper” Bill says. Another way to view an eclipse is by creating a sort of “telescope” by attaching old negatives (3 or 4) with no photos on them to the end of a shoe box that has holes cut in both ends. “3 pairs of polarized sun glasses work excellent too” says Bill’s sister Shirlee. They both remind readers to never look directly at the sun.
A partial lunar eclipse (when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun’s rays from striking the Moon) will occur on June 4. A day later, the rare transit of Venus (when the Planet Venus comes between the Earth and the Sun) will take place.
Much of the world can witness the 2012 transit of Venus. The date depends on what side of the International Dateline you will be observing.
Observers in North America will see the transit in the evening on June 5, 2012, through sunset, so you want to have a clear western horizon. After the June 2012 transit of Venus, the next such alignment occurs in 2117.