Since 1992
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By Edward Gleason
Southworth Planetarium
PORTLAND – I know you can read the graphic so I won’t explain it. However, just a few notes that I hope will be helpful:
1. One wouldn’t want to make the hole in the foil too big. A small pinprick will suffice.
2. Best to have white paper on the inside, but one can use other colored paper as well if nothing else is available. Remember that you want the screen to reflect as much light as possible.
3. Unless you’ve always wanted to feel like a condemned 18th-century French aristocrat, you shouldn’t carve a small hole in the box bottom and then stick your head through it. Just leave the bottom open. The upper part of the box will shield most of the light.
If you have any eclipse questions, please feel free to call us at 207-780-4249 or email edward.gleason@maine.edu
If it is any consolation, we’re going to start stocking up on eclipse glasses next year in preparation for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse.
From USM’s web site:
“A map showing the total solar eclipse’s “totality path,” the region where observers will be able to see a total solar eclipse. Alas, Southern Maine sky watchers will not be able to see a total solar eclipse on August 21. Instead, we’ll see a “partial solar eclipse,” meaning that the moon will only partially cover the Sun from our perspective. For instance, in Portland, the sun will be 58.8% obscured at maximum eclipse.”
