[AstroNet] Get ready for next SA Solar Eclipse - order eclipse viewers by Nov 3rd

Tue Oct 21 17:44:56 SAST 2008

All of South Africa will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun on
Monday 26th Jan 2009, from about 7am to 9:30am.

This one is definitely worth watching - and it's our last decent
national eclipse at a reasonable time of day until 2016.

We think getting the whole country to spend a couple of minutes watching
the eclipse would be a good second-event for the International Year of
Astronomy (after SALT's Sutherland New Year star-party, of course!).

We have put an eclipse info page onto our website: www.planetarium.co.za
<http://www.planetarium.co.za/> 

Included on this website is:

*	info about times and visibilities for South Africa and
neighbours
*	quite a bit about "Eclipse pinhole projection art" - this looks
like a very good way to keep kids busy when they're out watching the
eclipse (we need to stop them from staring at the Sun and fighting over
eclipse viewers)
*	instructions (and worksheet) for a scale model of the eclipse -
use a fizzpop (Moon) and a tennis ball (Earth) - hold them 2m apart, and
try to get the shadow of the fizzpop on the tennis ball
*	order form for eclipse viewers.

Eclipse viewer ordering info, and eclipse visibility around the country,
are also available on a cellphone-friendly web-page.

This is at planetarium.co.za/cell <http://www.planetarium.co.za/cell>  

This is an extremely simple website that should work on any phone - it
works on mine!

It is intended for use by people who need to order viewers, but cannot
easily get at the internet - e.g. teachers.

Eclipse Viewers

These are the cardboard viewers, similar to red/blue 3d viewers but with
solar filter material in the eye-holes.  Pics on the website.  They are
more-or-less essential for eclipse-viewing - pinhole projection is
great, but you cannot stop people from looking directly at the Sun,
which causes eye-damage.  Using eclipse-viewers also re-inforces the
message that looking at the Sun is dangerous.

Eclipse viewers need to be manufactured weeks ahead of the eclipse, and
we have to deal with the December national shut-down.  No-one else seems
to be making viewers, and at the moment it doesn't seem likely that a
sponsor will be found to pay for free viewers inserted in newspapers.

So: we at the Jhb Planetarium have set up an eclipse viewer
manufacturing line, using local printers and labour.  We need your help
(and everyone else's!) to publicise the eclipse now, and order viewers.
We cannot afford to make any sort of useful quantity unless we get large
numbers of pre-paid orders.  

Our prices are:

*         R10 each

*         R8 for 10+

*         R6 special for schools only

Add postage to the above.

If any science centre-types want to buy for re-sale, speak to me, but
this is rock-bottom pricing, and it also needs the US$ to stay below R10
(the filter material is imported).

Please place orders for viewers before 3 November.

Orders must be accompanied by payment - we do not have money to pay for
the production.

If anyone needs anything else from us to help us publicise the eclipse
and the availability of viewers, please let me know.  I'm hoping most of
what you need is on the website.

Claire Flanagan

Jhb Planetarium

info.planet at wits.ac.za

011-717-1390

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