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Re: (meteorobs) Feb 26 1998 Solar Eclipse



At 12:31 PM 2/18/98 -0700, you wrote:
>A bit off the subject, but does anyone have any info about what time the
>eclipse will be observable from the U.S.???

Ron, not exactly what you were looking for, but if you tune in the rabbit
ears 
you can see it no matter where you are.......

-Mark

..............................................................
Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 February 18, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N98-17

NASA OUTLINES PLANS TO STUDY FEB. 26 TOTAL ECLIPSE 

       The Feb. 26 total eclipse will be visible from a narrow 
corridor which begins in the Pacific, continues through the 
Caribbean and ends off the Atlantic coast of Africa.  Much of 
the south and eastern U.S. will see a partial eclipse.  

NASA's plans to study the eclipse include: 

     *  Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, MD, will be among international teams of scientists 
who will observe the eclipse from Curacao, Guadeloupe, and 
Aruba, using solar telescopes to analyze the structure and 
magnetic activity of the Sun's corona.  Scientists are 
available to discuss the upcoming solar eclipse.  Contact Bill 
Steigerwald, Goddard Public Affairs Office, 301/286-8955 (see 
note below for live interviews on NASA TV).

     *  The NASA/European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and 
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft will assist eclipse 
expeditions from around the world by making simultaneous 
observations during the eclipse that will reveal a more 
complete picture of what is occurring on the Sun.  Contact Bill 
Steigerwald, Goddard Public Affairs Office, 301/286-8955.

     *  The NASA/ESA Ulysses spacecraft, now in polar orbit 
around the Sun, will give scientists a "birds-eye view" of huge 
loops of solar material tearing away from the Sun's corona.  
These ejections of solar mass can be seen from ground-based 
observatories during solar eclipses, but Ulysses' orbit above 
the Sun's poles gives scientists another perspective from which 
to better understand these potentially dangerous storms.  
Ulysses scientists are available for interviews about the 
upcoming solar eclipse by contacting Diane Ainsworth in the 
Media Relations Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
Pasadena, CA, 818/354-5011.


NASA TV plans the following: 

     *  An eclipse preview Video File will run on NASA-TV 
several times in February.  Elements in the Video File include 
animation showing the path of the eclipse, some safe eclipse 
viewing tips, and examples of how scientists use 'artificial' 
eclipses to study the Sun's corona.  

     *  NASA will offer live interviews with Art Poland of the 
SOHO team.  Dr. Poland will give eclipse viewing tips & fun 
facts and explain how scientists use artificial eclipses to 
continuously monitor the Sun's corona.  The Live Shots are 
scheduled the evening of Feb. 25 and the morning of  Feb. 26.  
Contact Wade Sisler, Goddard Space Flight Center, 301/286-6256.

     *  A time-lapse movie of the moon's shadow as it sweeps 
across the Earth will be taken by the GOES satellite during the 
four-hour event.  If the images can be processed in time, NASA 
TV will broadcast a special edition of the Video File around 4-
5 p.m. EST. 

     NASA Television is available through the GE-2 satellite, 
transponder 9C located at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical 
polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio at 6.8 MHz.

                            - end -



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