Unisa online - Partial eclipse of the Sun for all South Africans

A partial solar eclipse (Earth entering the shadow of the Moon) will be visible from Pretoria on Monday 26 January 2009. The eclipse will start just after 7:00 and will end around 9:45, with maximum obscuration occurring around 8:20. About 45% of the Sun’s disc will be covered, but you will probably not notice anything unusual.

Weather permitting, the Astronomy Section of the Department of Mathematical Sciences will set up telescopes in the parking lot outside the Observatory and eclipse glasses will be available to provide safe viewing of this event for anyone who is interested.

Please note that you should not look at the Sun without proper protection. Sunlight contains harmful UV radiation, and telescopes, binoculars and some cameras magnify the effect of the sunlight: using these to look at the Sun can damage your eyes. Ordinary sunglasses block the light (which turns off your natural warning systems), but not the UV, so please do not use them.

The United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo. For more details on the IYA, have a look at www.astronomy2009.org or the local website www.astronomy2009.org.za

The next similar eclipse for South Africans will be in 2016.