{"id":41698,"date":"2026-08-12T21:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41698"},"modified":"2026-08-12T21:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:53:21","slug":"astrophysicist-brian-may-shares-advice-for-viewing-the-solar-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41698","title":{"rendered":"Astrophysicist Brian May shares advice for viewing the solar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/queen\">Queen<\/a> guitarist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/brian-may\">Brian May<\/a> has been sharing advice on how best to view the solar eclipse tonight (August 12).<\/p>\n<p>A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, resulting in the moon casting a shadow on the Earth. The last event of its kind visible occurred in the UK in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Much of Europe will experience a total eclipse while the likes of the UK will experience a partial eclipse this evening from 6.30pm BST.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past few days, May, who is qualified astrophysicist after achieving a PHD degree in 2007, has been giving regular updates on his Instagram page, sharing advice on how best to view it.<\/p>\n<p>In one particular post, he showed a partial eclipse so far. He also warned against \u201clooking straight at the Sun\u201d and not going \u201canywhere near a telescope or binoculars pointed at the Sun\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>May also suggested \u201cmaking a small pin hole in a sheet of cardboard\u201d, and \u201cpractice projecting an image of the Sun through this hole on to a piece of white card\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Db44NLHMMtR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Db42sNHMYbe\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/brianmayforreal\/reel\/Db8AomJM-y_\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In another post he shows himself in Spain preparing for the eclipse<\/a> and he is hopeful of seeing a total eclipse but fears \u201cthere maybe clouds in the way\u201d before explaining the difference between a partial eclipse and total eclipse.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Db5g9pZsaqh\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/brianmayforreal\/reel\/Db8Gv4nsoUY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">He also shows advises on how to project the eclipse on to a plate in another clip<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/m00303lk\/newsnight-queens-brian-may-on-solar-eclipse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>BBC Newsnight<\/em><\/a> about the event May said: \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a life changing experience, to see at total eclipse of the Sun every time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is only 1 minute 40 seconds or so,\u201d he went on before adding: \u201cI just wanna use my eyes and ears, every sense to absorb what I\u2019m really taking part in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a unique experience because you feel that you know where you are in space. It\u2019s the only time that happens, You\u2019re looking in towards the centre of our solar system, the Sun and you can never do this any other time, you can see the little family of planets around you and see the odd star around you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuddenly you realise you\u2019re on this ball of rock and it kind of feels like you could fall off, it\u2019s an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/brian-may-badly-recreates-iconic-queen-album-cover-to-prove-dangers-of-ai-so-this-is-the-kind-of-intelligence-that-will-soon-be-ruling-the-world-3962182\">Elsewhere, May has insisted<\/a> \u201cwe actually don\u2019t need <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/tag\/ai\">AI<\/a>\u201d after using the tech to recreate an iconic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/queen\">Queen<\/a> album cover.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Queen guitarist Brian May has been sharing advice on how best to view the solar eclipse tonight (August 12). A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, resulting in the moon casting a shadow on the Earth. The last event of its kind visible occurred in the UK&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_brianmay_2000x1270.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}