Physics – Physics Education
Scientific paper
May 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999phyed..34..101k&link_type=abstract
Physics Education, Volume 34, Issue 3, pp. 101 (1999).
Physics
Physics Education
Scientific paper
The Sun may not have moved for Galileo but it is certain that this coming August the Sun will have moved millions of folk towards a thin strip of land about 100 km wide stretching from Cornwall to the Indian Ocean. If you have yet to book your place for the biggest live show of this millennium year there are still places in hotels and campsites. The April edition of the UK camping and caravaning club magazine included at least four sites in Cornwall alone with vacancies. I am told that the difference between seeing a 98% eclipse and totality is considerably greater than 2%. The message appears to be - try to get to the line.
However, a popular misconception among lay folk seems to be that you will only be able to see the event in Cornwall. As you will read in this issue the partial event will be visible from virtually the whole of Europe. Anyone who has tried to holiday in Cornwall or Devon will tell you how congested the roads become in any ordinary August. The best advice for this year is either to travel to the south west by bicycle or attack the totality path as it crosses Europe. Access will be much easier.
For my part I have booked a hotel in Trier, Germany, about 20 km north of the totality path. An early breakfast on the 11th should leave enough time to motorcycle down to see the shadow. Of course, the whole business is weather dependent. With the chance of a clear sky in Cornwall, Devon and most of western Europe being about 50% on the date in question, forward planning depends on whether you are a `half empty' or a `half full' person. It is worth keeping this fact in mind especially if you drag an expectant family hundreds of miles through traffic just to watch the clouds drift by. Take a colouring book and a board game just in case. Of course, the chance of a clear sky increases to about 90% across Turkey but there are reasons why such a trip might not be so wise in the current political climate.
In this special issue readers will find plenty to interest them about the eclipse event but also much of additional interest about the physics of the Sun. Seek out Richard Harrison's article for an up-to-the-minute report on the information gathered from the SOHO mission. Clare Parnell from St Andrews takes readers on an excursion into the Sun's interior, revealing a structure beyond what meets the eye. For those planning an eclipse excursion Gerry Bond offers his wisdom about how to make the most of the event. A second view is offered from Francisco Diego, whose research interest focuses on the solar corona. In his article you will read an almost spiritual account of the magic of witnessing a total solar eclipse. For those looking for ideas to use with students David Sang introduces us to two substantial curriculum resource packs published jointly by PPARC and the ASE. For those with a more practical bent there are guidelines to help you to create a millennium sundial to adorn your home or place of work and an article from Australia that supports our understanding of longitude and time. I should also point out that our reviews section has a distinctly solar flavour for this special issue.
There will be much more to read about the Sun and the eclipse in the coming months. Teacher journals, commemorative booklets, T-shirts, badges and videos all sporting Eclipse '99 messages are already on the market. The most observed eclipse in history is about to happen and there is no doubt in my mind that on the crest of this wave will ride future aspirations of many pupils and students. The wave will pass and enthusiasm might fade, supernova-like, into history, but for a few years there will be a heightened sensitivity in the public domain about space, the sky and astronomy. I wouldn't be surprised if applications to degrees in astrophysics might increase in number, as perhaps will the sale of filters and the membership of local astronomical societies. One route to astrophysics is of course via physics at school. Can we hope that 11 August might mark a date for a revival of interest in physics? Perhaps we can. And if not, then we can always make a sundial.
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