Solar eclipse watchers partial to star attraction

A SOLAR eclipse will take place tomorrow.

If the clouds stay away, Ireland will see a partial eclipse, where about a third of the sun will be masked by the moon’s shadow.

Astronomy Ireland is holding at least five eclipse watches at various locations around the country where the public will be able to view the eclipse using safe methods and equipment.

One of the watches will be in Phoenix Park, Dublin — all the events start at 9am.

Further details are available on www.astronomy.ie.

Astronomy Ireland warns people to never look directly at the sun as it can lead to permanent blindness.

The eclipse will mostly pass through the Arctic, beginning in northern Canada, then sweeping across Greenland, central Russia and Mongolia, and ending in China.

In areas experiencing the total eclipse, the moon will blot out the sun for a few minutes, casting its dark shadow over a narrow, moving strip and revealing the sun’s corona.

A total solar eclipse can throw up some strange effects down on the ground.

As the sun is blocked out, the temperature suddenly drops, atmospheric pressure wobbles and a wind suddenly blows through.

It will be the first total solar eclipse since 2006.

A typical eclipse lasts three minutes, and the longest possible would be seven-and-a-half minutes.

The eclipse will be broadcast live online on http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2008/ from the Xinjiang Province in northwestern China, near the Mongolian border.

NovosibirskGuide.com will also broadcast the eclipse as seen from Novosibirsk in Russia.

The next solar eclipse will take place on July 22, 2009, starting in India and crossing Asia and Japan into the western Pacific Ocean.