Project Goal: To observe an eclipse of the Sun.
What you Need for This Project
To do this project you will have to be able to view the movie clip included with this project. All Macs come with a version of QuickTime and computers running Windows have a movie viewer called Media Player. The movie clip should play using either type of computer or player.
If your computer does not have QuickTime movie viewer installed you can download the Macintosh or Windows version from the internet by clicking on QuickTime. Also, an installable version of QuickTime is included on the StarryNight CD program disk.
Start the movie and watch as the inner planets as they orbit the Sun. Drag the horizontal scroll box to the left to rewind to the first frame of the movie. Clicking once to the right of the scroll box will advance to the next time frame. Alternately, if you are using a QuickTime viewer, you can click the right arrow at the end of the scroll bar. Each click advances one time frame forward. The left arrow allows you to step backward in time.
What You Need to Know for This Project
For a discussion of solar eclipses see Voyage 7.
To start the project click Solar Eclipse 11 August 1999 Viewed From Earth.
To view the eclipse from the Moon click Solar Eclipse 11 August 1999 Viewed From Moon. Make sure you note the small umbral part of the Moon's shadow.
Print or copy the Project Results Form on which to record you answers and hand it in to your instructor.
Results Form
Name____________________ Student Number__________ Class ______________
Date ____________________
Based on your observations:
City ___________ Longitude_________(W, E) Latitude ___________(N, S)
Date_____________
1. Type of solar eclipse______________
Start of Eclipse __________________ (AM, PM)
Middle of Eclipse ________________ (AM, PM)
End of Eclipse ___________________ (AM, PM)
2. About how long did the partial and total phases of the eclipse last?___________ .
3. Estimate the duration of totality, that is, the time that the Sun was totally covered by the Moon.
4. Viewed from the moon what was the phase of Earth.during the eclipse?. ___________ .
5. What was the direction of motion of the Moon’s shadow across the Earth's surface?.
6. Why would more people be able to see the partial phase of the eclipse than the total phase?