Club explores eclipse

"Eclipse!" - a slide show and lecture about lunar and solar eclipses - will be presented by Sisters Astronomy Club member Jim Hammond on Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m. in the meeting room of the Sisters Library.

Hammond traveled "down under" to Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia to view the total solar eclipse that occurred on November 14, 2012. This was the third total solar eclipse that Hammond has observed, but more than 40 years passed between the last two occasions; and for those earlier eclipses he only needed to travel a couple hundred miles or fewer, not thousands.

In this presentation, Hammond will discuss both lunar and solar eclipses and the causes for their occurrence and their regularity. Why do opportunities for viewing lunar eclipses happen more often than for observing total or partial solar eclipses? Is it almost as interesting to view a partial solar eclipse or an annular eclipse as it is to view a total eclipse? How frequently do eclipses occur?

Hammond will discuss answers to these questions, equipment needed to view a solar eclipse, and what to expect to see during the course of watching eclipses.

There will be only five opportunities for viewing total solar eclipses between now and 2021, but in 2017 the United States will be treated to one of the best. Totality will occur in an approximately 50-mile-wide path stretching from the Oregon coast to the South Carolina coast. This happens on August 21, when the weather should be good along most of the path.

This presentation is aimed at a general audience and will include the opportunity to learn about other activities of the Sisters Astronomy Club, a volunteer committee of Sisters Park & Recreation District. For more information contact Jim Hammond, 541-617-1086, drjhammond @oldshoepress.com.