total solar eclipse

Don’t miss the July 2 total solar eclipse, online or via NASA TV

James Guilford , , , ,
Photo of August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. Credit: NASA/Gopalswamy
The corona, a region of the Sun only seen from Earth when the Moon blocks out the Sun’s bright face during total solar eclipses. The corona holds the answers to many of scientists’ outstanding questions about the Sun’s activity and processes. This photo was taken during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. Credits: NASA/Gopalswamy

Be sure to be watching July 2 at 4:00 PM EDT as the total solar eclipse is presented live from Chile, via San Francisco’s Exploratorium. You will not be able to directly see the eclipse from the USA; the total solar eclipse will be visible from a narrow part of the South Pacific Ocean, Chile, and Argentina.

The Exploratorium will be bringing the total solar eclipse to you, no matter where you are. The have sent a team to Chile to broadcast from within the path of totality. Enjoy this full, unnarrated view of the eclipse from the telescopes at the National Science Foundation’s Cerro Tololo Observatory.

Live Telescope View – Not Narrated:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/total-solar-eclipse-live-july-2-2019

Live Coverage – Broadcast Style:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/total-solar-eclipse-2019-live-coverage

NASA has partnered with the Exploratorium to provide the coverage which it will livestream: three views via separate players on the agency’s website (all times EDT):

  • Live views from telescopes in Vicuna, Chile, without audio, from 3 to 6 PM
  • A one-hour program with live commentary in English, from 4 to 5 PM
  • A one-hour program with live commentary in Spanish, from 4 to 5 PM

NASA Television will also carry the English-language program on its public channel. Both programs will feature updates from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and Magnetospheric Multiscale missions.

USPS Commemorative eclipse stamps transform at a touch

James Guilford , , , ,
Image: Eclipse Stamps Transform at a Touch - Credit: USPS
Eclipse Stamps Transform at a Touch – Credit: USPS

On August 21, 2017, tens of millions of people in the United States will have an opportunity to view a total eclipse of the Sun. A total solar eclipse was last seen on the U.S. mainland in 1979, but only in the Northwest. The eclipse this summer will sweep a narrow path across the entire country—the first time this has happened since 1918. The U.S. Postal Service® anticipates this rare event with a stamp celebrating the majesty of solar eclipses.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun stamp is the first U.S. stamp to use thermochromic ink, which reacts to the heat of your touch. Placing your finger over the black disc on the stamp causes the ink to change from black to clear to reveal an underlying image of the moon. The image reverts back to the black disc once it cools. The back of the stamp pane shows a map of the eclipse path.You can preserve the integrity of your Total Eclipse of the Sun Forever® stamp pane with our protective sleeve specifically designed for stamp preservation.

The stamp uses a photograph taken by astrophysicist Fred Espenak of a total solar eclipse that was seen over Jalu, Libya, on March 29, 2006. Mr. Espenak also took the photograph of the full moon that is revealed by pressing upon the stamp image. The reverse side of the stamp pane shows the path across the United States of the forthcoming August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse and gives the times that it will appear in some locations.

A total eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon completely blocks the visible solar disk from view, casting a shadow on Earth. The 70-mile-wide shadow path of the eclipse, known as the “path of totality,” will traverse the country diagonally, appearing first in Oregon (mid-morning local time) and exiting some 90 minutes later off the coast of South Carolina (mid-afternoon local time).

A total solar eclipse provides us with the only chance to see the Sun’s corona—its extended outer atmosphere—without specialized instruments. The corona during an eclipse looks like a gossamer white halo around a black disk, or like the petals of a flower reaching out into space.

Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp. 

The Total Eclipse of the Sun stamp is being issued as a Forever ® stamp. This Forever® stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.

Source: United States Postal Service