Zach's Projects

Way cool!

I saw somewhere that sometime in 2017, the sky will go completely dark here at about 3pm, and not in Portland, about 50 miles north of here. Now that would be really cool!

For anyone else wanting to try this, there are some neat, quick instructions for building a pinhole camera in this video at Space.com.

 

Edit: This is a pretty neat graphic showing the moon's shadow over the earth. It would be really cool if they could get a time-lapse video from a satellite showing the same view:

 

For anyone else wanting to try this, there are some neat, quick instructions for building a pinhole camera in this video at Space.com.

Good idea, Nathan. That'll work. However, if anyone wants to make a camera like mine, there is still time:

 

Materials:

• Black posterboard
  
• Thick cardboard
  
• White paper or posterboard
  
• Foil
  
• Duct Tape
  
• Screws (4)
  
• Tape
  
• Wire
  

Tools:

• Pin
  
• Pencil or pen
  
• Wire cutters
  
• Compass, or strip of thin cardboard
  
• Ruler
  
• Calculator
  
• Knife
  
• Scissors
  
• Digital Camera
  
• Screwdriver
  

Measure the length of the posterboard and divide by 6.28. This will give you the radius of cylinder you are going to make.

 

Set your compass to the radius and draw two circles on your thick cardboard. If you don't have a compass you can poke two holes a distance of the radius apart on a strip of thin cardboard. Then hold one end with the pin through one hole, and draw a circle with a pencil through the other hole. Patiently cut out the circles with your knife.

 

Draw a third circle on your white paper, cut it out and attach it to one of your cardboard circles. This will be your screen.

 

On the other circle, cut two holes, one for the camera and one for the pinhole. Be sure that they are far apart so that the camera does not cover the pinhole. The camera hole should be large enough to accomodate then lens but small enough that the camera completely covers it.

 

Now roll the posterboard into a tube and close it with the duct tape. Attach your carboard circles with the duct tape and be sure the screen is inside opposite the side with the holes. Be sure your cylinder is completely sealed with tape.

 

Cover the pinhole hole with foil and poke it with your pin.

 

Trace the outline of your camera when it is covering the hole. Wrap four pieces of wire around your screws, and insert the four screws just outside the outline.

 

When it is time to film, find a location away from trees and buildings. Mount your camera, and twist the wires together to hold it in place. Position the digital camera vertically. Aim the pinhole camera at the sun until you see the a bright white dot on your viewscreen. Be careful your shadow is not blocking the pinhole while you are aiming. If you will be filming for a long time, nudge the camera until the sun's image is at the lower left corner of the screen. Positioning may vary based on your location, especially if you are in Asia.

 

Use something hold up the pinhole camera, and use two heavy objects to prevent it moving in a breeze. I used cinderblocks as shown in the photo above.

 

Have fun, and save your pinhole camera for the transit of Venus in June!

And if you'd prefer something simpler, you can get a pretty good image of the sun just with a pin and two index cards or small pieces of paper. Poke a hole in one and aim it at the other.

I saw somewhere that sometime in 2017, the sky will go completely dark here at about 3pm, and not in Portland, about 50 miles north of here. Now that would be really cool!

Very cool. This eclipse might be worth a road trip!

Some excellent animations of how the eclipse will appear from lots of locations here: http://www.shadowandsubstance.com

Here are the results!

 

http://youtu.be/QDZK4FbVVw0

 

We did get a nice thin crescent, but it wasn't as close to a full ring as I had predicted. I guess 20 miles makes more of a difference than I thought.

 

Unfortunately the image turned out blurry. I think what happened is that the posterboard I used as the screen was too shiny and caused distortion. You know how white posterboard often has a shiny side and a more dull side? Well, I thought the shiny side would reflect better, but it turned out to reflect too much. Now I know better for the 2017 eclipse.

Still cool though. It's kind of like abstract Pac-Man art.

One of our faculty had a telescope with a filter set up yesterday, so I was able to see the transit of Venus. Very cool.

Awesome. I tried to photograph the transit with my pinhole camera, but it didn't work. I did however manage to hurry over to the local university where telescopes were set up for the public.