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by William Armstrong
Updated:
26 May 2012
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Annular Eclipse Puzzle

Genre: Science Puzzles Rating: 2 - Easy Source: Richard Price
Brain Functions: Logic / Visual Thinking Hint    Solution

On May 20, 2012, my friend Richard Price traveled to Utah to find a perfect spot for viewing the annular eclipse of the sun. From his vantage point the center of the moon would pass exactly in front of the center of the sun. However, the diameter of the moon would be smaller than the diameter of the sun, so you couldn't safely view the eclipse with the naked eye. He set up his camera with a solar filter so that it would take a picture every ten minutes during the eclipse. This resulted in a composite picture shown below.


Annular Eclipse May 2012 progression by Richard Price

People without solar filters could view the eclipse using a card with a pin hole that focuses the light on a white background to see a sort of shadow of the eclipse. Richard fashioned a more elaborate pin hole frame; it had a piece of foil with pin holes forming the text "ANNULAR ECLIPSE 5/20/12". Your challenge is to determine what the 'shadow' of this frame would look like when the eclipse is at its maximum. As an extra bonus question, what would the shadow of this frame look like during a total solar eclipse?


Annular Eclipse May 2012 pin holes by Richard Price

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