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4 ways to watch the total solar eclipse on Monday (8/21/17)

You’ve no doubt been hearing about the total solar eclipse for many weeks now. It’s a big deal because it’s the first solar eclipse to cross the entire continental United States in 99 years. All this time, you have probably been telling yourself to read up on the subject and order some special solar eclipse glasses so you can experience what might be a once in a lifetime event. If you actually ordered the glasses, have your DSLR camera, 600mm telephoto lens and tripod ready to go, then yay for you. You get a special geek star award for always being prepared. What do the rest of us procrastinators do on Monday so we won’t feel left in the dark (literally)?

1. Get a pair of solar eclipse viewing glasses so you won’t go blind.

No, your regular sunglasses will not protect your eyes from the damage of looking at the sun during the eclipse!

Is it too late to buy a pair of solar eclipse glasses? No, not if you don’t mind paying ticket scalper prices like I’m finding on Amazon.

You are better off looking for some freebie glasses locally in your town. Contact the nearest high school or library and ask if they have any freebies. Just double check that the glasses are ISO certified safe if you do end up scoring a pair. You can check out this excellent and very detailed article on the subject at https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-certification.

2. No eclipse glasses? No problem. Build a camera obscura pin-hole viewer instead.

Even though I was lucky and was able to get some eclipse glasses at the last minute at a decent price from ThinkGeek, I’m still going to build one of these viewers because I like geeky arts and crafts. It’s also pretty much free if you already have a box, some tape, a piece of white typing paper, foil, and a pin. For easy instructions, check out these articles that show different styles of pin-hole viewers that you can easily create in just a few minutes:

How to make a handheld solar eclipse box viewer
How to make a wearable solar eclipse box viewer
How to make a group solar eclipse viewer with a pair of binoculars and a tripod

The group viewer requires some extra gear, but I think that’s the one I’m going to try to make.

3. Watch the eclipse without glasses or a pin-hole viewer.

If you don’t want to track down a pair solar eclipse viewing glasses, build your own viewer or even make the effort to go outside, you can still watch the solar eclipse from the comfort of your favorite chair. There will be many sites live streaming the event like the CBS News eclipse coverage through CBSN, CBS News’ 24-hour online streaming platform. Their coverage will begin at 12 p.m. ET on Monday.

4. If you happen to take a nap and sleep through the whole thing, you can still watch it later.

After the total solar eclipse event has ended, you still can tune into your favorite news sites where there will be all sorts of commentary on the event and replays that will show the total eclipse of the sun. This is not the laziest way to watch the total solar eclipse because not everyone will see the eclipse in its totality. Live streaming or watching it later will be the way most people will get to see the full total eclipse.

What will the eclipse look like where you’re located and what is the best time for viewing? You can find out here: https://eclipsemega.movie/simulator

If you have some more good advice on this subject please share it in the comments below.

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4 ways to watch the total solar eclipse on Monday (8/21/17) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 17, 2017 at 4:10 pm.

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Astronomy buffs will love this solar system marble collection


I’m not really into astronomy, but I love marbles and this collection from WestEndCollectables has me searching for my credit card. The collection includes 11 marbles that represent the planets in our solar system.

Each marble represents a planet including the Moon, Mars, and Earth which shows the continents, oceans, and rivers.

The entire set of marbles is not sized accurately, but it’s a cool collection for anyone who loves both marbles and space.

The Solar System Orrery Globe Marble Collection is priced at $46.57 on the WestEndCollectables Etsy shop. Visit their store to order and be sure to check out their other marbles.

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Astronomy buffs will love this solar system marble collection originally appeared on on May 12, 2017 at 10:58 am.

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Rule your own solar system with models from the Little Planet Factory

Usually, I write about a specific product in my news stories and reviews for The Gadgeteer. But recently I came across a website that blew me away with their models. The Little Planet Factory builds models of our solar system including realistic meteors (or small bodies as they are listed on the web page).

These models are made using 3D printing and are incredibly detailed. Besides the Solar System models, the Little Planet Factory also have some novelty type items such as an Earth in a bottle or a Solar System in a bottle but maybe one of the most interesting novelties for me is the Lowellian Mars model with the Martian canals. All the models are highly detailed and most come in various scales.

Prices start as low as £12 (approximately $15) to £700 ($865) and up for full Solar System models. So, if you are interested in this sort of thing or just want to see the incredible 3D printing work that the Little Planet Factory is doing you should check out their web page.

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Rule your own solar system with models from the Little Planet Factory originally appeared on on March 17, 2017 at 1:01 pm.

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