Enter Our Giveaway Celebrating the Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse is coming and we are celebrating with a giveaway. Read on and enter at end of post!

On Monday, August 21st, North Americans get to experience one of the rarest and most awesome sights in nature: The path of the moon will perfectly intersect with the path of the sun at just the right time, causing the moon to either partially or fully block the sun from view (depending upon your location).

In a Q&A session about the August 21st total solar eclipse, George Moromisato, author of 101 Amazing Sights of the Night Sky, shares with us what is so special about this rare event here.

Lunar eclipses happened regularly enough that ancient astronomers were able to work out how to predict them. But total eclipses of the sun, which happen at a given spot only a few times per millennium, were impossible to predict with any accuracy. Imagine, then, how awesome and scary it must have been for our ancestors to see the life-giving sun swallowed up completely without warning. They must have watched anxiously as the skies darkened, perhaps wondering whether the sun would disappear forever. Within minutes, however, the light and warmth of the sun reappeared and everything would go back to normal—at least for a few more centuries.

Today, of course, we know that the sun is eclipsed when the moon happens to pass in front of it. We can enjoy it as one of nature’s greatest spectacles. But it’s only the coincidental size and distance of the moon that make total eclipses possible. If the moon were smaller or farther out, it wouldn’t be able to cover the sun completely. In fact, the moon is slowly drifting farther away from Earth.

In a billion years or so, the moon will appear small enough that it won’t fully eclipse the sun. The age of total eclipses will be over, so be sure to see a total eclipse of the sun before then.

With the upcoming solar eclipse, AdventureKEEN’s stargazing titles are as popular as ever. These effective, best-selling resources make any stargazing endeavor even better, whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro. The Night Sky field guide helps readers to easily locate 62 constellations by telling them where and when to look in relation to the Big Dipper. The Constellations Activity Book is a kid-friendly introduction filled with dot-to-dots and other fun activities. 101 Amazing Sights of the Night Sky goes beyond our favorite star patterns, providing details on how to see the best non-constellation-related celestial objects and occurrences.

Enter our giveaway for your chance to win a copy of George Moromisato 101 Amazing Sights of the Night Sky book and a companion deck of 54 playing cards featuring 52 individual images of amazing astronomical sights, plus two jokers. With their full-color images, a simple guide to pronunciation on each card, and suits organized by type of astronomical object, these cards are perfect for games or as flashcards.

We are also running a giveaway for one pane of Forever United States solar eclipse postal stamps. You can enter this giveaway HERE.

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