Solar Eclipse
This is
the Sun
without
its glow.
The solar eclipse
will be visible on
Friday 20th March.
This is the Moon.
There was a newspaper article about how it
could halve U.K solar power, but most people
will be outside and watching the eclipse so
many devices will not be using up power.
Ours won’t
look like this.
This is a great example of a solar eclipse cycle.
Sadly our eclipse will not look as good as this
one because ours is only a partial eclipse. The
peak of the eclipse will be about 9:30 am, it
will be visible for about 2 hours.
Not to Scale.
You might be thinking “The Sun is 400 times
bigger than the Moon, how could the Moon
block it?”.Well the Sun is also 400 times
further away and the beams of light go
diagonally to earth.
Partial Eclipse
Our eclipse will only be a partial eclipse, the
Moon will cover 90% of the Sun. The next
total eclipse will be in 2070. Partial eclipses
are not as great as total eclipses but it will still
look really good.
Ancient beliefs
In ancient times people thought that a solar
eclipse was a massive snake eating the Sun.
Some would flee some would fire arrows
towards the eclipse.
STAY SAFE
There is only one rule when looking at the Sun
DON’T DO IT.
When looking directly at the Sun it can make
some people go blind, but...
How to safely look at the Sun
•
•
•
•
•
•
Make a small hole in a piece of card.
Stand with your back to the Sun.
Hold the card with the hole up to the Sun.
Hold another piece of card 20cm below it.
Watch what happens!
Move them further apart and watch.