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– Hey, good morning, it’s Lupe, classic hits, 92 .7, 95 .3, and joining us in the Street Beat Studio this morning, Charlie Sawyer of Sawyer Observatory in Pembroke. Good morning.
– Good morning. – How’s everything going? – Going great. – How’s Pembroke? – Well, you know what? I’m wondering what happened to spring. Winter has come back and that’s unfortunate, so. – Yeah,
yeah. So you’re all the way here from Pembroke. – Yeah, oh yeah, that’s a long way. – All right, so, and we’re talking about the total eclipse of the sun. sun, what exactly does that mean?
Well, a total of eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon is in the new moon phase, and it comes between the earth and the sun and cast shadows on the earth. And depending on where you are located is whether or not you’re going to be able to actually see the total eclipse of the sun.
And of course, we’re going to have a gift this year because Maine is going to be able to see the entire state of Maine. We’ll see the eclipse, there’s certain portions of Maine. will see total certain will see partial and what about here will we see in callous Maine it’ll be about 98 .6 % covered that’s so callous is going to darken up the temperatures will probably drop a little bit they won’t see totality but they
will see they will be dark it will see it will still be a pretty good thing to observe and nice and what could you expect if we have a rain or snow or it’s just overcast well if it rains rains,
if we have overcast, the sky will still get a little darker. You won’t be able to see the sun, of course. You won’t be able to see the eclipse unfold. But you’ll still be able to see the effects, the effects of it.
Sure. Okay. All right. So where is the best place to see it in Maine? Well, the eclipse is running up from the path of the eclipse, what they call the eclipse path, the totality path is running up from Mexico right through some of the mid -states of the United States.
coming up through upper New York, New Hampshire, and the northwestern part of Maine, running up from, say, Jackman, all the way through Holton, right over Mount Katahdin, actually. In fact, I’m gonna be in Millinocket.
Millinocket’s gonna be in totality, but it won’t be in the very center, but there’ll still be a good spot to view it and try to get pictures and things. – All right, and what safety precautions should we be taking when we view the– – Well,
you know, you never look at the sun, – Yeah. – and you always have– no matter what you never look at the Sun, but during an eclipse I know that they have issued eclipse glasses And in fact, I didn’t know how many there were going to be people have asked me about them But I think Walmart was even selling them.
So everybody’s getting in on this Yeah, even During the partial phases there’s different context of the eclipse and when the moon starts to take a bite out of the sun And you want to watch that or observe that eclipse you want to have those eclipse glasses on at all times anyone that’s in the totality path will not you can take the glasses off and it’s only about three minutes or so maximum that you’re able to do
that but so when it’s completely covered it’s completely covered correct you can actually look you can actually look at it you can see the corona of the sun planets will be visible there’s even a comet we might be able to see so it’ll be it’ll be a really cool experience if someone has never seen that before But in Calais,
if it’s a clear day and you want to watch the eclipse, through the entire thing, the glasses will be recommended. And you did, I think you mentioned it, but how long will it last if you’re in a good speed,
like up in where you’re going, or… Right. Well, everywhere, it’s going to be from approximately about 2 .20 in the afternoon to about 4 .40 in the afternoon, about 20 minutes or 5.
but that’s from the first bite, partial to totality, to partial, and then the moon passes through. The total phase, totality, where I’m going to be,
will start around 3 .31 in the afternoon and last only about three minutes. – So that’s when it’s completely dark. – Completely dark and completely covered. Yeah, the temperatures will probably drop. They may even go down here in Calais as well,
even though the sun won’t be completely covered, the sun won’t be completely covered. there’s going to be that little smiley face on the bottom there of the sun, southwestern bottom area of the sun, that you’ll still be able to see with those glasses on.
But where I’m going to be, it will darken totally for about three minutes or so. Nice. Now, are there any special events or viewing parties planned for the evening? There are a lot around the state of Maine,
a lot. In fact, some of my friends, fellow amateur astronomers, some are going to Holton. And Holton’s having like a… a four -day event up there, and they’re having all kinds of things. Where I’m going in Millinocket,
there’s even a foot race, some type of a marathon or something. A lot of my friends are going to Jackman. They’re gonna be way out West in Jackman, a little town to Jackman. They’re expecting thousands of people to raid that town.
And a lot of these towns are gonna get, they’re gonna have a lot of people that are gonna come in. Good luck anybody trying to get a motel room or anything like that. – Bring a tent, yeah. Exactly.
– Yeah, well how often do eclipses like this occur? – They’re rare, I mean eclipses occur every month really somewhere. Because it’s during, it’s when the moon is between the earth and the sun and sometimes the shadows may just pass the earth all together,
they may be out over the ocean. To have an eclipse occur in the same spot, like what we’re gonna have on April 8th, it could be. be a couple of centuries before that happens again to do that. We have to understand how the solar system works.
We live on a planet that’s tilted 23 .5 degrees on this accretion disk in the solar system, and the sun and all the planets are on this disk, and all the satellites around these other planets lie in their equatorial planes of their planets.
But our moon doesn’t do that. Our moon is in this accretion disk, and it varies about five degrees, and if it’s right on that line, if it’s right on that line perfectly during a new moon phase,
we can get this total eclipse that we’re going to have now. What do you mean by accretion, you said? The disk of the solar system. If you can imagine the sun is in the middle of our floor here and it’s a nice flat disk across the solar system,
imagine the planets that are orbiting the sun, our planets on one of them too, and it cross our moon. moon is with our planet. Well, a lot of the planets in the solar system, some have tilted a lot more on their axis than the Earth is.
A Uranus is on its side, for example, and their satellites orbit the equator. If we could imagine our equator extended out into space, that’s our equatorial plane. Our moon is on this ecliptic plane that’s about 23 and a half degrees north or south of our equator,
depending on the season. on the season and just by chance hence the term eclipse on the ecliptic plane and if the moon sometimes the moon rises or goes down below that area as it orbits the earth and if it just happens to be on that plane during new moon then we have a nice total eclipse what we’re going to have and and actually we’re gonna have a it’s gonna be a great eclipse this one if well clear weather well
clear weather so nice so so go ahead and explain the difference between a solar and a lunar eclipse. – Okay, so a solar eclipse, of course, is during the new moon phase. The moon has two cycle of phases.
It has a synodic cycle and a sidereal cycle. The sidereal cycle takes the moon about 27 or one -third days to orbit the earth. And actually, the earth and the moon are orbiting each other because gravitationally,
they’re kind of like a double planetary system, but the earth is much more massive. so the effect is the moon going around the Earth. 27. days, and it takes an extra two days to complete its cycle of phases,
and that’s 29 and a half days. So during a solar eclipse, the moon is between the Earth and the sun. Lined up, the sun is behind the moon, and we have that shadow that comes down on the surface of the Earth.
During a lunar eclipse, the moon is in a full moon phase, and the shadow of the Earth is now… hitting the moon and Lunar eclipses can last much longer because the shadow of the earth is much bigger going out into space as it covers the moon And there’s also a there’s two types of shadows.
There’s the Umbral these penumbral in the umbral the penumbral shadow is what Calais is going to be in during the solar eclipse on the 8th of April Because they’re not in the totality phase the umbral shadow shadow is when the moon is completely covering the sun.
And during a lunar eclipse, the umbral shadow would be when the earth’s shadow is completely covering that moon. And it turns the moon like a reddish color because the light from the sun,
as it hits the earth’s atmosphere, refracts to the surface of the moon. Blue light scatters, we have a blue sky, blue light’s more energetic. Most energetic of the color is violet blue. Red light doesn’t scatter like that in it.
it works its way it refracts to the surface of the moon so if you are standing on the surface of the moon during a lunar eclipse if an astronaut ever gets to do that they’re gonna see this red glow coming towards them hmm that’s interesting now with what about video or photography what’s the best way to capture some pictures well then you all you need a filter and where I’m going to be I’m taking a Nikon camera
with a telephoto lens I have a telephoto lens that’s going to be filtered And during the partial phase, I’ll have that filter on the end of my what kind of filter is that I have solar filters It’s direct solar filters It was interesting because when I was at Pembroke school last night one of the students said can I take a picture through my eclipse glass?
Is it with a cell phone? Yes, you can do that if those eclipse glasses are well enough to protect your eyes They’ll protect the sensors in your cameras as well But I’m going to be using solar solar filters over my telescope and my camera But when totality hits I’m going to take that filter off so I can try to get a picture of the total eclipse Period I’ll see the corona of the Sun.
I might even see the famous diamond ring effect or what they call Bailey’s beads There’s a comet out there. That’s visible now in the sky near the Sun So do you need anything else other than a filter?
Like what about like a phone or something like that? that? Is that gonna work? Well, I’m using an actual Nikon DSLR. Yeah. I’ll have a telescope set up with an eyepiece with a filter that anyone that happens to be with me can put their cell phone up to the eyepiece because it brings an image up on the eyepiece.
Okay. But your cell phone, you can hold that up and take a picture of the eclipse, maybe put the eclipse glass over the lens on the cell phone or something. Just not to damage it or anything because it’ll suck.
sun’s a powerful thing And you don’t want to look at it either. So yeah, I was just wondering how it would spread out and sometimes You know stuff like that doesn’t come out not on cell phones exactly not that good,
right? Yeah, yeah There’s another phenomenon too that we hope that that we can see also In 1919 Albert Einstein did this experiment where they could predict that they were going to see stars that were behind the sun Because what’s happening is the stars that are actually behind the Sun The Sun’s blocking them so to speak the distant stars The light is being bent or refracted around the matter in space and and it makes
the stars appear in different spots in the sky If anyone has heard of dark matter, that’s another that’s another interview Yeah Nice so so what are your plans for the eclipse?
I’m going to Millinocket. I’m gonna head up there early I’m meeting some other amateur astronomers around the state. We’re going to be setting up some equipment in Veterans Memorial Park, right in the center of town.
I think they’re going to get some snow tomorrow, so I hope they’ll have that cleared up by then. Yeah. But we’re going to be setting up several telescopes. We have some people from the Bangor group that’s going to be there, cameras,
going to try to get some pictures. So we’re hoping, I’m hoping for a good sunny day. Yeah. Everybody will keep their fingers crossed that we have. a good sunny day there So and Jupiter Saturn that’ll be visible when it gets dark enough In fact in Calais if it’s clear the Sun should be covered enough So you’ll be able to see Jupiter.
You’ll be able to see Venus will be visible as well So basically be like night almost almost a little yeah, it’ll almost it’ll be dark. Yeah, all right So is there anything else you want to add?
Everybody crossed their fingers and hope for a good day I can’t stress enough on safety. Solar glass, or the eclipse glasses, if you don’t have a pair. I’m not sure if they’re still selling any now around.
But I know the schools have been passing them out. But remember to wear those. Talk about your event coming up, something about sleeping outside. The main state star party. Yeah, the main state star party is– in fact,
we have a YouTube video on it now. OK. We just Google it. main state star party. It occurs every summer. This summer, it’s August 9th through the 11th.
It’s at Cobscook Bay State Park. OK. And we folks can come over during the day and enjoy the event during the day. They can camp there on our site. Friday night end or Saturday night.
We have guest speakers. We have games with prizes for kids. We have solar telescopes that will be set up during the day. to view sunspots on the Sun. We’ll have nighttime viewing with some very large telescopes,
very big telescopes that will be set up as big as 16 inches in diameter to see the, if you’ve never seen Saturn’s rings, some of the galaxies and clusters that we can show,
it’s just a lot of fun and you know there’s no charge to come in and enjoy that with us and so we’d like to see a lot of folks come in and and we got some new things going on this year too.
Now are there any other things that are there that you can purchase or? Well we we’re gonna have some prizes. The prizes are free. Okay. We’re gonna have a lot of prizes. We have an Astronomy Jeopardy game that we play.
Anyone’s welcome to get in on that. Just remember some of your basic science in school and do a good job. So most of it’s just basically free? Yes. Correct. Okay. Correct. All right.
So tell us a little little bit about what goes on there in Pembroke. Well, not much down in Pembroke. I have an observatory that I have and I’ve been running an observatory for a long time and started the Down East Amateur Astronomy Club back in 1997.
Frank Davenport and I, we got that going and I have an observatory in my yard and I do my own viewing and and astrophotography imaging right from inside my house.
Oh wow. I just tied it into my computer and stuff. Okay. And I do have people come down if they want to view. I’ve opened it up for families and kids and things. If certain things are happening.
Well even if they’re not. If we get you know we haven’t had much clear weather lately it seems but last year was devastating. Every weekend it rained it seemed like so I’m hoping for a better year this year.
year yeah but I’ve had people contact me and I said yeah let’s see we can set up an appointment they want to bring their kids down or or even if it’s anyone you know that wants to look through a telescope and see something that they’ve never seen so that’s pretty much right there in Pembroke right there in Pembroke all right so this is the most important question that I didn’t tell you at all that I was gonna ask
you have you ever seen UFOs? (laughing) Well, actually, I’m an open -minded person and I’m not believing in little green men flying around my house,
but I have seen some things I couldn’t explain. And I like to think there’s a lot of natural phenomena out there that, you know, satellites, there’s so many satellites up there. You never know. You know,
you can’t even keep track of them. But I have seen some things that a couple of times that I wasn’t sure, I mean, this was a long time ago before they had all those satellites. up there a lot of them so and so but I don’t know I’ve had a logbook since I was a kid and I got it all logged hope I have the men in black don’t come after me for saying that but can I see that book please nice all right well I
appreciate you being here Charlie Sawyer of Sawyer Observatory in Pembroke thank you for joining us thank you All right, and this is Lupe. You’re listening to Classic Hits 92 .7 95 .3