Fort
Lauderdale Postmaster David Guiney will dedicate an enlargement of the
Total Eclipse of the Sun Forever stamps to the Broward County Main Library and the
South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association Saturday, August 12. Employees
are invited to the 1 p.m. dedication at the Broward County Main Library, 100 S.
Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale. Participation is an off-the-clock activity.
On June 20, the U.S. Postal Service dedicated the first-of-its-kind
Forever stamp which transforms the solar eclipse image into the Moon from the
heat of a finger. These Forever stamps commemorate the
upcoming August 21 eclipse.
Tens of millions of
people in the United States hope to view this rare event, which has not been
seen on the U.S. mainland since 1979. The eclipse will travel a narrow path
across the entire country for the first time since 1918.
A total eclipse of the
Sun occurs when the Moon completely blocks the visible solar disk from view,
casting a shadow on Earth. The 70-mile-wide shadow path of the eclipse, known
as the “path of totality,” will traverse the country diagonally, appearing
first in Oregon (mid-morning local time) and exiting some 2,500 miles east and
90 minutes later off the coast of South Carolina (mid-afternoon local time)
passing through portions of 14 states --- but not Florida.
A total solar eclipse
provides us with the only chance to see the Sun’s corona — its extended outer
atmosphere — without specialized instruments. During the total phase of an
eclipse the corona appears as a gossamer white halo around the black disk of
the Moon, resembling the petals of a flower reaching out into space.
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