HartRAO Home > news > eclipse reports > Bostec 2002/12/04
A curious group wait to have the mysteries of how eclipses occur explained to them using the orrery on the table. A set of orreries was made in the HartRAO workshops for the science centres collaborating in this project.
Hands on use of the orrery helps to show how the Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon in turn orbits the Earth, and their mutual alignment leads to eclipses. A keen young scientist joins in on the right.
A TV set was ingeniously rigged up to show slides from the set on the eclipse produced by HartRAO. Here a keen audience see how the Moon passes in front of the Sun and what we see when this happens.
A group of ladies are fascinated by the same slide.
Another keen group see what the total eclipse would look like.
If the Sun is 400 times bigger than the Moon, how can the Moon completely block ou the Sun during an eclipse? Here a group of schoolgirls are using 1 cent coins (as the Moon) to see how this can happen.
The Sun shining through gaps in the leaves of this tree produces crescent images of its partly eclipsed shape.
At the start of the eclipse a small group watch through the eclipse viewers supplied by FEST. On the right, note the HartRAO Tee shirt with a picture of the radio telescope.
The number of eclipse watchers grows as the eclipse deepens. Note the person in centre holding the pair of binoculars supplied by HartRAO for projecting the image of the Sun. A late arrival rushes in on the right.
By mid-eclipse there is quite a crowd enjoying the spectacle. Ironically, here where the skies were clear the eclipse was just short of being total.
More eclipse reports.