Are you geared up for Saturday’s partial solar eclipse? Public event planned at Castletown
Caithness Astronomy Group (CAG) will be hosting a public observation event for Saturday’s partial solar eclipse at Castletown.
Maciej Winiarczyk from the group said that the eclipse will be visible from the county and the public event will take place at Castlehill Heritage Centre in Castletown.
“A solar eclipse on Saturday, March 29, will be visible from Caithness, and the event will start around 10.15am and it will end around 12.30pm,” he said.
“The eclipse maximum will be around 11.10am and the Moon will cover around 40 per cent of the Sun’s disk at the time.”
CAG says that the solar eclipse observing session is free and will be family-friendly.
The group’s poster says: “Clouds permitting, we will safely view the partial solar eclipse of the Sun using CAG’s specially filtered telescopes or through supplied solar eclipse specs.”
At the event there will also be the chance to learn more about what causes eclipses and about the solar system in general.
Northern Scotland will be one of the best locations in the UK for observing the partial solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is very rare and happens when the Moon completely blocks the Sun, leading to a period of complete darkness across areas of the Earth.
Partial eclipses happen around twice a year, and only part of the Sun is blocked out.
The next total solar eclipse visible from the UK will not occur until September 23, 2090, but a near-total eclipse, where about 90 per cent of the sun will be covered, will be visible in parts of the UK on August 12, 2026.
When viewing the eclipse, you must never look directly at the Sun. You can buy proper solar eclipse glasses, but they must be ISO-approved. Do not view the solar spectacle with ordinary sunglasses.
For more info on CAG, contact secretary David Orr by email at: CAGSecretary@mail.com
Links for the group can be found at: www.spanglefish.com/caithnessastronomygroup/index.asp
www.facebook.com/CaithnessAstronomyGroup/ https://gostargazing.co.uk/organiser/caithnessag
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