Timeline for How accurate are NASA's eclipse predictions?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 17 at 4:31 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | A recent question on this topic: astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/57402/16685 | |
| Aug 14, 2017 at 1:31 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Aug 13, 2017 at 19:47 | answer | added | pacoverflow | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jul 19, 2017 at 17:36 | comment | added | antlersoft | Solar eclipse predictions are really good. You aren't going to be able to discern error based on crowd-sourcing individual reports-- your uncertainty will be much greater then the error in the prediction. But something like the method you suggest is used to check things that are harder to get right, like asteroid stellar occultations. | |
| Jul 19, 2017 at 16:39 | comment | added | user21 | The accuracy here would be in meters or something (the accuracy of the edge of the predicted path). Why would photons that miss the moon be different from any other photons arriving on Earth. I can't imagine the moon's gravitational attraction is enough to make much of a change. | |
| Jul 19, 2017 at 14:03 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 21, 2017 at 2:23 | |||||
| Jul 19, 2017 at 13:49 | comment | added | Carl Witthoft | You haven't even defined the accuracy you're after. Further, "the sun is really really bright" indicates a lack of understanding of the spatial distribution of the radiance, not to mention the effect of the atmosphere on those photons which manage to miss the moon. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 22:17 | comment | added | StephenG - Help Ukraine | Where can I find data about accuracy of [NASA's] eclipse predictions? Have you considered asking NASA ? They'd certainly know. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:29 | comment | added | user21 | @zephyr Even if only one billionth of the Sun is showing, it's brighter than Sirius. I'm thinking this is do-able... and, more importantly, it's been done. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:24 | comment | added | AtmosphericPrisonEscape | You're confusing accuracy and precision. You see that the predictions are precise, but you want to know if they're accurate. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:19 | comment | added | zephyr | Can you be confident the average person would know that difference though? I'm certainly not. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:14 | comment | added | user21 | @zephyr I disagree. The Sun is really really bright. There should be a very noticeable difference between 100% eclipse and 99.999999% eclipse. That's why we have effects like Bailey's Beads | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:10 | comment | added | zephyr | I'd expect NASA is pretty darn accurate. They're very good at their job. Besides, how can you be sure people can be accurate enough to verify NASA? I'm sure NASA can specify the border of where a full eclipse occurs to a much much better accuracy than an individual can distinguish between a full eclipse or a 99.99% full eclipse. | |
| Jul 18, 2017 at 17:00 | history | asked | user21 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |