Sunday, August 20, 2017

Solar Eclipse - Monday August 21, 2017

A total eclipse of the sun will be visible in the United States on Monday, August 21.  The path of  the total eclipse will first reach land in Oregon’s Pacific Coast around 10:15 a.m. local time (1315  EDT or 1715 UTC) and will progress southeast through Salem OR, Casper WY, Lincoln NE, Kansas  City KS?MO, Nashville TN, Columbia SC, and Charleston SC, passing into the Atlantic around 2:50  p.m. local time (1450 ELT or 1850 UTC). 

Resources: 
HamSCI project: http://www.hamsci.org/basic?project/2017?total?solar?eclipse  Sky and Telescope article, focusing on AM radio effects:  http://www.skyandtelescope.com/2017?total?solar?eclipse/how?to?hear?the?solar?eclipse/ 
Nuts and Volts article on ham radio and eclipse:  http://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/the?solar?eclipse?and?ham?radio 
Space Magazine: how to view the eclipse safely:  https://www.space.com/33797?total?solar?eclipse?2017?guide.html 
NASA official site: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html  

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels throughout the outlook period.   Solar activity is expected to be low with a chance for M?class flare activity (R1?R2 / MinorModerate) through 19 Jul when Region 2665 exits the visible disk. Very low to low levels are  expected from 20?28 Jul. A chance for R1?R2 activity is possible with the return of old Region 2665  from 29 Jul ? 12 Aug.  
(NRC/DXN-84)

"Observe" August's Eclipse From Your AM Radio
Joe Rao


When the Moon's shadow glides across the U.S. on August 21st, you'll have a chance to hear the eclipse as it happens.

Solar eclipses are more than remarkable visual astronomical phenomena; they’re pretty interesting from a radio viewpoint too. Should overcast skies prevail over your location on eclipse day, you can still make some interesting observations using an AM radio.
Dramatic changes can take place in radio reception when day changes into night and vice versa. Perhaps you’ve had the experience of driving in your car at night, listening to some program on the AM dial, when the announcer will identify the station as WBBM in Chicago. This might seem odd if you are listening from Albany, New York, more than 700 miles (1,100 km) from the Windy City. Yet, cases like this happen every night.

Additional article at:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/2017-total-solar-eclipse/how-to-hear-the-solar-eclipse/