Photos of the Nov. 14, 2012 eclipse taken from onboard a ship on the Coral Sea. Photos by Steve Becker

PEEC News:

Local astronomer Stephen Becker will share his eclipse experiences through photos and video, with a special focus on the total solar eclipse of November 2012 at a talk from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26 at the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC), 3540 Orange St. in Los Alamos.

Nov. 13-14, 2012 the sun, moon and earth were aligned to allow the sun to be blocked along a narrow path that intersected a little bit of northern Australia and a long stretch of the southern Pacific Ocean.

Oddly, the moon’s shadow first touched the earth at sunrise traveling eastward north of Australia on Nov. 14. It eventually crossed the international dateline  and it left the earth at sunset Nov. 13 off the coast of Chile.

Becker was on the cruise ship MS Oosterdam with over 1,800 other passengers in the Coral Sea off the east coast of Australia to view the event. This was his ninth total solar eclipse.

Becker will talk about the experience, show a video the eclipse and some pictures that he took, and make comparisons to the other eight total solar eclipses he has seen.

“Each eclipse is unique and once you see one, you want to see another,” Becker said. 

For more information, visit www.PajaritoEEC.org, call 662-0460, or e-mail Programs@PajaritoEEC.org.