Illawarra will see a small glimpse of a solar eclipse on Thursday, April 20, with Western Australia experiencing a total solar eclipse.
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The solar eclipse will turn day into night in Western Australia for one minute, with a total solar eclipse near Exmouth peninsula.
"It's a bit like going through a sunset and it kind of gets darkish, and the birds for example think 'oh, it's night time' and the birds do the evening song," Associate Professor Nicholas Jones at University of Wollongong said.
"Then of course the sun comes out again, the birds probably think 'that was a short night, that was strange!' from that point of view it's quite a dramatic event."
For most of Australia the solar eclipse will be partial, with part of the sun covered by the moon. Here in Illawarra, around 10 per cent of the sun will be covered by the moon.
"Wollongong is just at the edge of this event, as it were," Associate Professor Jones said.
According to TimeandDate, the partial solar eclipse can be viewed from Wollongong starting at 1:35pm with a maximum eclipse at 2:27pm, finishing at 3:16pm.
What is a solar eclipse?
Associate Professor Jones teaches astronomy classes at the University of Wollongong, he provides a simple way to explain what a solar eclipse is to kids this school holidays.
"Sometimes, you can see the moon even during daylight it's a very faint moon," he said.
"But just occasionally the moon passes right in front of the sun and just so happens that the moon's about the same size as the sun, and it blocks the sun off and say just for a very brief time the moon completely covers the sun and you can't see it anymore," he said.
How to view the solar eclipse?
Firstly, never look at the sun directly or directly through a camera lens, telescope or binoculars.
"Do not view the sun never just by looking at [it], because you'll damage your eyes. The sun is really, really bright. So you'll have to find some other way of indirectly looking at the sun," Associate Professor Jones said.
Try an arts and craft school holiday activity by creating a cardboard pinhole camera.
"You'll see a bright round sun and just a little part of it just cut out."
Associate Professor recommends following NASA's pinhole camera exercise using paper, aluminium foil, and tape.
Alternatively TimeandDate have a quick option, grab a piece of cardboard and make a small hole using a thumbtack. Then with your back towards the sun hold the cardboard over your shoulder to project on to a second piece of paper.
If you happen to have a piece of welding glass he added that can be held up towards the sun to look through.
When using a telescope a solar filter needs to be used, alternatively projecting the telescope image onto a piece of paper.
The solar eclipse will also be available to watch through a live-stream from the Perth Observatory.
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Marlene Even
Journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Previously a radio and podcast host at 2SER Radio.
Journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Previously a radio and podcast host at 2SER Radio.
