total solar eclipse
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How to Safely View a Total Solar Eclipse
The total solar eclipse is an incredible phenomenon, one that I hope to see myself someday. But what happens during a solar eclipse? What can you expect to see, and how can you protect your eyes from the sun’s damaging rays?
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What is a Solar Eclipse?
March 2024: This post has been updated and republished from Sept 2017. A solar eclipse is the most amazing astronomical sight you’ll ever see. Not only is it the only time you’ll ever be able to clearly see the “new…
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Our Sun: The Corona
When we observe our sun’s corona, we discover something odd. It’s really, really hot. But…wait a second. How is that odd? Shouldn’t the sun be hot? Well…yes. It should, and it is. Its surface temperature is almost ten thousand degrees…
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Our Sun: The Chromosphere
This diagram is a tiny bit misleading. Here, it looks like the chromosphere is the visible surface of the sun, with the photosphere just below. Really, we never see the chromosphere. If you ever look through a solar telescope at…
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Einstein: Space-Time Curvature
When you hear about “space-time,” it’s just a way to say that space is related to time. And the curvature of space-time, as Albert Einstein predicted, is the way space and time alike literally bend around a mass such as the…
