Solar eclipse to plunge Britain into darkness - March 20th

More importantly Stargazing Live is back to go out in conjunction with the event! (hence it not being shown in January as usual), us blokes can all get our yearly Cox fix :eek: :o
 
Dates for the diary:

Stargazing Live returns to BBC on 18-20 March.


Solar Eclipse partially visible in the UK on March 20th from 08:15 UT (GMT):

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More:

http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0112015/


Eclipse Calculator:

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/uk/london

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Safety Code:

http://www.britastro.org/eclipsesafety
 
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Can't wait. I still remember standing outside my work building in 1999 watching the last total eclipse. It really brings home that we're standing on a rock moving through space with other large rocks :)

I remember that too!
 
I'll go into work a couple of hours late and look for somewhere interesting to take some photos with a low-ish early morning sun. Fingers crossed for a clear sky.
 
Why would it cause blackouts? Solar cells store energy in batteries anyway and the partial eclipse is only lasting 2 hours?

Going to get the camera ready and book a half day to go find a nice vantage point either way.
 
Why would it cause blackouts? Solar cells store energy in batteries anyway and the partial eclipse is only lasting 2 hours?

Going to get the camera ready and book a half day to go find a nice vantage point either way.


the large commercial PV arrays don't store the energy in batteries, the power is fed directly into the grid. using batteries on large commercial projects would make them uneconomical.
 
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