Astronomy enthusiasts and onlookers can observe a partial solar eclipse in Germany next Tuesday (October 25). It takes about two hours in total and can be seen throughout Central Europe - so the weather plays along and no clouds block the view. According to the weather forecast, the chances of larger cloud gaps in the northwest and south are greatest. Unfortunately, it looks rather cloudy and gray in the center of the state.
In Kiel, the moon begins to shift in front of the sun at 11:07 a.m., in Berlin as well as in Cologne at about 11:10 a.m., in Munich the spectacle starts shortly after 11:14 a.m. A maximum degree of coverage of 30 to 42 percent is then achieved between 12:05 and 12:20 o'clock. Observers with locations in the north-east of the country have an advantage in this regard. There the moon covers a larger part of the Sun than in the Alpine region.
There is a solar eclipse when the sun, moon and earth are exactly in a row. Because then the moon pushes in front of the sun, its shadow falls on the surface of the earth and ensures one of the most fascinating natural spectacles. With a total solar eclipse, the entire sun is covered by the moon, so observers on earth are in the area of the core shadow. A partial solar eclipse arises when only part of the moon is covered, so you are in the area of the partial shadow.
The simplest and safest method of observation is to project the image of the Sun created by a small telescope and a long focal length eyepiece onto a white, smooth cardboard. If you don't have a telescope at hand, you can even help yourself with the holes in the band of a wristwatch. "This is comparable to a small pinhole camera," explains Hardi Peter from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen.
The scientist from the research department "Sun and Heliospär" researches, among other things, the external atmosphere of the sun, the Corona. It is particularly good to see with the naked eye during a total solar eclipse. At first glance, it seems to contradict the second main clause of thermodynamics that it is many times hotter than the sun surface, which only comes to a little around 6000 degrees. This says that heat always flows towards a colder system. »You know such physical tricks to bypass the main sentence from the microwave. The walls of the device stay cold there, while the food is heated, «says Hardi Peter. While in the microwave the frequency of the exposed radiation stimulates the water molecules to vibrate, the process in the sun is stored somewhat differently. "Probably the energy transport in the sun along the magnetic field lines." But what exactly is behind it has so far only been theoretically formulated. Real proof could not yet be provided.
It is true that the working group led by Hardi Peter mainly uses data from Earth-based observatories and the Solar Orbiter spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) for its research. But there are also solar researchers who travel from eclipse to eclipse, says Peter. "In this way, magnetic field disturbances in the corona can be observed very well from Earth. However, it is quite tedious, because there are always only a few minutes left during which the Moon obscures the sun.«
Under no circumstances should you look directly into the sun during the natural spectacle on Tuesday. There are solar eclipse glasses for observing with the naked eye. These should be considered safe according to EU standards, may not have scratches or holes and should be as close as possible to the face. If you want to watch the event with the eye on the telescope, you need a dampening filter that is attached in front of the lens, so that only a very low fraction of the sunlight can get into the telescope: the filter should reduce the light by a factor of 100,000 which corresponds to a logarithmic strength of d = 5. Local sun filters and dark glasses are available in astro retail trade. It is entirely not advisable to be discovered by inadequate makeshift solutions such as soot -blackened glasses or above one another.
Further information on safe solar observation can be found on the website of the Sun section of the Germany-wide Association of Sternfreunde e. V. at www.vds-sonne.de/de/Warnhinweis . We now wish you a nice eclipse experience with the right equipment – and of course good weather.
The graphic was developed in cooperation with TypeShift, the digital agency for interactive visualizations
