by Lin McNulty
Although the best viewing area will be in Southern Oregon, an annular solar eclipse will still be visible Sunday evening over parts of the Pacific Northwest. The eclipse zone stretches from southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean to western parts of North America.
The eclipse will begin around 5:30 pm PDT. For the next two hours, a Moon-shaped portion of the sun will go into hiding. Greatest coverage occurs around 6:30 pm PDT. For those directly in the eclipse’s path, the sun will appear as a ring of fire at about 6:23 p.m.
Seattle won’t get the full effect, but KING 5 Meteorologist Rich Marriott said the moon will still cover 83 percent of the sun’s diameter, but only 76 percent of its disk.
Cautionary Note: Looking at the Sun is harmful to your eyes at any time, partial eclipse or no. The danger that a partial solar eclipse poses is simply that it may prompt people to gaze at the Sun, something they wouldn’t normally do. The result can be “eclipse blindness,” a serious eye injury that can leave temporary or permanent blurred vision or blind spots at the center of your view. Fortunately, there are easy ways to watch the show safely.
Sky & Telescope illustration
Pinhole projection. The simplest safe way to view a partial solar eclipse is to watch the Sun’s image projected onto a piece of paper. Poke a small hole in an index card with a pencil point, face it toward the Sun, and hold a second card three or four feet behind it in its shadow. The hole will project a small image of the Sun’s disk onto the lower card. This image will go through all the phases of the eclipse, just as the real Sun does. Experiment with different size holes. A large hole makes the image bright but fuzzy; a small hole makes it dim but sharp.
Because some of the sun is always exposed during the eclipse, ambient daylight won’t seem much different than usual. Instead, the event will reveal itself in the shadows. Look on the ground beneath leafy trees for crescent-shaped sunbeams and rings of light.
A total solar eclipse is also expected to cross over Salem, Ore., on Aug. 21, 2017.
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