A 90% Solar Eclipse this Wednesday (12th August) around 6:00 pm

In Dunure we should get a better than 90% eclipse: there will still be a wee sliver of the sun visible.

If you want to view it be sensible! Looking directly at the sun will permanently damage your eyes, even if it’s only 10%!

You need special solar viewing glasses. Don’t use ordinary sunglasses no matter how dark. There’s good advice here, from the UK Health Security Agency.

One way to view the eclipse sensibly is to use a simple colander: place a piece of paper where the light from the sun can pass through it. Just don’t look directly through the colander at the sun…

You have not one but many eclipses!

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Then we have the meteor shower

The night of the 12th August has more in store – the Perseid Meteor shower will be at it’s more intense on the night of the 12th. The shower appears between the 17th July and the 24th August, but the 12th is the busiest night: up to 150 shooting stars per hour can be seen then.

More details here.

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You’ll need to be up early for the third one though!

Also on the 12th, but about 5:00 am, there’s a planetary alignment of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune.

You’ll need a really good telescope to see all of them, but Mars and Saturn should be fairly easy to spot.

Here’s a visualisation of how they will appear:

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All leading up to…

Dunure Festival of the Sea!

Saturday 15th August

1:00 ’till late!

This is going to be a good one – it’s in the stars!