5 days and over 3 000 km of travel we arrived in Julatten Northern Queensland in anticipation of seeing the Solar Eclipse.
Finally the morning arrived after a night of rain. It was 4.30 am and the sky above the tent was clear and full of stars.
Paul had contacted the farmer behind the caravan park and we had permission to walk in his paddock to view the eclipse.
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| Walking to our viewing point. |
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| The paddocks were beautiful and the birds were regaling us with their morning chorus |
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| 6:37 am it started getting dark. |
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| we looked at the heavens and saw this heart in the clouds... |
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| 6:38 it was totally dark and ..... everything was silent |
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| The clouds moved and revealed the total eclipse. It lasted for two minutes. |
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| Total Eclipse |
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| And in a twinkling of an eye the daylight returned. |
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| the rays of the sun were bright |
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| sun beginning to reappear. Third Contact Phase |
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| "Hey Mommy the sun looks like the moon!" |
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| The moon moving out of occlusion Fourth Contact Phase |
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| The moment is finished. |
I enjoyed the experience so much I would love to see the next one Lord willing for my 56th birthday :) 22 July 2028
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| Future Solar Eclipses for Australia |
Blessings
Chareen
Some facts
- There are five phases of a total eclipse
Moon's first contact
Second Contact
Total Eclipse
Third Contact
Fourth Contact - This eclipse started at 5.44 am
- Total eclipse was at 6.38 am
- Last contact was at 7:40 am
- Duration of total eclipse 2 m 03s
- The sun is 400 times larger than the moon
- The sun is also 400 times further away that is why the moon can cover the sun.
- This eclipses path started in the Northern Territory and ended just short of South America
- Over Queensland the path was about 140 km wide
- The moons shadow traveled at 15,000 km/h
- A total solar eclipse happens somewhere on earth approximately every 18 months.
- ABC news Solar Eclipse video
- Download a pdf from the Astronomical Association of Queensland.
- Total Solar Eclipse over at the AAQ (Teacher downloads, Website links etc)
- NASA eclipse website.
- NASA solar eclipse November 2012
- Our Aussie Homeschool Astoronomy Notebooking Journal.
- Jimmies Collage - Mapping the Solar System
- Jimmies Collage - We saw the Eclipse
- Jimmies Collage - Independent Lapbook - Eclipse
- Technology facts
