Rodger Macqueen is an astronomer with the University of Southern Queensland. He says that even though southern skies won't feature a total solar eclipse, like they will in north Queensland, "we're in one of the best places to see a partial solar eclipse. At is maximum we will see about 83-84 percent of the sun obscured."
"This is a very special event" Rodger says excitedly, "the last solar eclipse that happened in Australia was 2002. The next one is 2028. Our little part of the world doesn't get them very often. One thing I should mention is Toowoomba is going to have a total solar eclipse on July 13, 2037 at about 1:15 in the afternoon. Hang around Toowoomba long enough, and we'll be in the 'path of totality'!"
Southern skies are forecast to be clear on Wednesday morning, which Rodger says is always the first hurdle for astronomers.
Sky watchers are warned to stay safe, and not look directly at the sun without the appropriate filters, "in a total eclipse the only time it's absolutely safe is within the two-odd minutes of 'totality'", Rodger explains, "we're not in totality, so it isn't safe to look at the sun without filters. They need to be the proper sorts of filters too. Not welding glasses. Not anything else like x-ray film, or developed negatives, if you've heard of that. Definitely approved solar filters."
Even though more than 80 percent of the sun will be obscured, Rodger says there's a good chance people won't notice the darkness during the two hours of the solar event, "it's not something that happens suddenly. Your eye is a marvellous organ, it gets used to the light levels. Most people won't be aware that it's happening."
If the eclipse has you excited, Rodger says there's plenty to see in our southern skies after the eclipse has come and gone, "as the sun is setting if we look to the west we've got the centre of our galaxy, Scorpius and Sagittarius. A little bit later in the night if we look out to the east we have Orion, another object that's really good to look at with binoculars. In the northern sky we have Pleiades, or 'the seven sisters'. And near Pleiades we have the Great Square of Pegasus, and in that constellation we've got the Andromeda galaxy. With a pair of binoculars it looks like a fairly impressive fuzzy galaxy."
Rodger will be at the Cobb and Co. Museum in Toowoomba between 6am-8am on Wednesday morning. Members of the public are welcome to attend and look at the partial solar eclipse through the telescope or the solar eclipse glasses provided.
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