Hello All!   
      
   Total Eclipse of the Sun        
      
   Nov. 8, 2012:  People from around the world are converging on the coast of   
   northeast Australia.  The attraction isn't the Great Barrier Reef, just   
   offshore, or the surrounding rain forests full of wildlife and exotic plants.   
   They're going to see a total eclipse of the sun.   
      
   On the morning of Nov. 14th (Australia time), about an hour after sunrise, the   
   Moon will pass directly in front of the sun. Residents and visitors of the   
   city of Cairns, also known as the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, will   
   enjoy an early morning eclipse lasting 2 minutes with the sun only 14 degrees   
   above the eastern horizon.    
      
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn5nKlMY5cI   
      
   Solar eclipses aren't only pretty, they're also scientifically valuable. A new   
   ScienceCast video explains how. Play it   
      
   NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak has a rating scheme for natural wonders.  "On   
   a scale of 1 to 10," he says, "total eclipses are a million."  Even the reef   
   itself will be momentarily forgotten by onlookers as the Moon's cool shadow   
   sweeps across the beach and the ghostly tendrils of the solar corona surround   
   the black lunar disk.   
      
   But there's more to this event than tourism. Scientists are attending, too.    
   For researchers, the brief minutes of totality offer a window into one of the   
   deepest mysteries of solar physics: The mystery of coronal heating.    
      
   In plain language, they'd like to know why the sun's outer atmosphere or   
   "corona" is so hot.  The surface temperature of the sun is only 6000 degrees   
   C.  Yet the corona above it is much warmer, a million degrees Celsius or even   
   more.   
      
   To understand the physics involved, astronomers have developed instruments   
   called coronagraphs, which block the glare of the sun to reveal the faint   
   corona.  Three spacecraft, SOHO and the twin STEREO probes, currently monitor   
   the solar corona using these devices. But no manmade instrument can match   
   Earth's natural satellite.  The Moon is nature's greatest coronagraph.   
      
   During an eclipse, "the moon reveals the innermost corona, which manmade   
   coronagraphs have trouble seeing," explains Shadia Habbal of the Institute for   
   Astronomy in Hawaii.  "That is where all the magnetic field and physical   
   processes responsible for heating the corona are evolving most rapidly."    
      
   http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2012/TSE2012.html   
      
   On Nov. 13/14, 2012, the path of totality crosses the northeast coast of   
   Australia. Click on the image for viewing times and a map of the entire   
   eclipse path. MoreOn Nov. 12th, Habbal will be in Palm Cove, Australia, to   
   deliver a keynote speech at a solar physics conference sponsored in part by   
   NASA's Living with a Star Program.  The title of her talk is "The unique   
   scientific advantages of total solar eclipse observations."  Two days later,   
   Habbal and her colleagues will be inside the path of totality, monitoring the   
   eclipse with a variety of telescopes and spectrometers at 6 different   
   wavelengths from 2 different sites.   
      
   Astronomy professor Jay Pasachoff, chair of the International Astronomical   
   Union's Working Group on Eclipses will be there, too.  He has observed an   
   astounding 55 solar eclipses.  "The Australia eclipse will be my 56th," he   
   notes.    
      
   Over the years, Pasachoff and colleagues have developed techniques to   
   photograph the corona with a clarity and resolution that coronagraphs on   
   current spacecraft cannot match.  Using these techniques, "we are learning how   
   the wonderfully-detailed structures we see in the corona are shaped by the   
   sun's magnetic field," he explains. The shapes vary in a regular way during   
   the sun's 11-year sunspot cycle. "We can use this information to improve   
   predictions of the next solar cycle."   
      
   That's a lot of science in two minutes of shadowy darkness.   
      
   After totality is over, the moon's shadow will sweep out across the South   
   Pacific Ocean, tracing a line thousands of miles long across uninhabited   
   waters, reaching almost, but not quite, the coast of South America. Back on   
   the beach, scientists will be taking a first look at their data while tourists   
   starting thinking about breakfast--and snorkeling in the reef.  For all   
   concerned, it's a great way to begin the day.   
      
   For more information about the eclipse, visit NASA's Solar Eclipse Home Page.    
      
      
   Author: Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   NASA's Solar Eclipse Home Page   
   Details and Timetables for the Nov. 13/14 total eclipse    
      
   Total eclipse photo gallery -- from spaceweather.com    
      
   Animated eclipse map -- from ShadowandSubstance.com    
      
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna - (1:3828/7)