FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images

2012 is turning out to be a banner year for area sky-watchers. It was just a couple of weeks ago when we were discussing how to best experience the “super moon” that loomed large over the city on Saturday night, May 5.

An equally rare astronomical occurrence happens this weekend: The first annular solar eclipse since 1994 that will be visible in Southland skies is due early this Sunday evening.

As reported by the L.A. Times, this “ring of fire” eclipse (when the moon and sun align perfectly, the moon appearing to block out most of the sun other than the outermost edges) will begin locally at 5:42 p.m. on Sunday night, peak at 6:38 p.m. and finish by 7:42 p.m., just 10 minutes before sunset at 7:52 p.m. Convenient, considering it is a school night. 

The Times warns that attempting to take in the eclipse along the coast is a dicey proposition that could leave viewers disappointed, depending on the weather (fog and low clouds are a real view-killer). Still, expect large crowds on SoCal beaches, so plan accordingly.

Huffington Post relates that the Griffith Observatory is hosting a public viewing of the eclipse on the observatory lawn, complete with staff on hand to explain what exactly will be going on in the sky. Again, expect a sizable crowd of fellow eclipse-viewers.

Hardcore sky-watchers will have to travel outside of the Southland to get the full “ring of fire” effect (here in Los Angeles, only 86 percent of the sun will be blocked out), with prime viewing spots in Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon and Northern California areas like the northern suburbs of Sacramento or Lake Tahoe.

Photo: Mike Spasoff/Flickr

 There sure is a lot of solar energy flying around these parts lately. Just this week we saw a sun storm that didn’t result in global catastrophe (yet), and we learned that California is still far and away America’s most solar powered state, and by a lot.

Still, it came as something of a surprise this week when U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the 2013 Solar Decathlon will happen in California, the first time the bi-annual event has occurred outside of Washington, D.C. since it’s inception in 2002.

The Solar Decathlon challenges 20 college teams to design and build efficient homes that are solar-powered. Among the criteria is that the structures be affordable, comfortable, and produces as much or more energy that it uses. The 20 structures will be showcased at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, CA.

Among the schools represented in the 2013 competition are four from our fair state, including USC and the Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology.

“As President Obama made clear in the State of the Union address this week, we need to ensure that the next generation of America’s architects, engineers and entrepreneurs have the hands-on experience and training they need to lead our nation’s clean energy future,” Secretary Chu said this week at the announcement. “The Solar Decathlon will unleash the ingenuity, creativity and drive from these talented students to demonstrate new ideas for how families and businesses can reduce energy use and save money with clean energy products and efficient building design.”

Sometimes, journalists spend all day monitoring regulatory hearings. So it has been with the advanced clean cars provram at the Air Resources Board (here in LA, happening at the Metropolitan Water District offices). It's risky business, alright. You run the risk of going cross eyed listening to public comment, techncial talk, and discussion among board members. Someday I'm going to come up with a bingo board for regulatory hearings, and it will include phrases like "kicking the can down the road," "broad cross-section of stakeholders," "landmark," and "bravo." At some point this afternoon, one guy in favor of what the Air Resources Board is doing spoke just after several specialty and minority Chambers of Commerce that don't, and he remarked on it. Chair Mary Nichols must have been punchy, because she advised the guy to form a chamber of commerce of his own.

Anyway, that's why we've got a photo of the day from NASA's Earth Observatory. Because my brain is mush. Click through this slideshow and you can see, in the rop right quadrant of the sun, a solar event called a coronal mass ejection, or a CME. Superheated gas becomes incredibly supercharged, too; that sends solar material off the ball of gas, in a sort of hot spot.

Mike Carlowicz with NASA (with whom, incidentally, I went to college, and after whom I was an editor at Georgetown's newspaper of record since 1920) writes about how the sun's activity has increased in recent days, with a CME on January 23:

Solar flares and CMEs are not a danger to humans on Earth's surface, as the planet's magnetic field (magnetosphere) and atmosphere deflect and absorb the solar energy and particles. The sun storms can pose some risks to astronauts, and they can upset the electronics and transmissions on science, military, and communications satellites. Closer to Earth's surface, solar activity can cause disruptions of radio signals (particularly HF), provide a small dose of radiation to passengers on high-latitude flights, and provoke auroras (northern and southern lights).

The storm is impressive by recent standards, but nowhere near the maximum intensities often generated at the height of the solar cycle. “I would expect that we will see more storms like this one or even bigger as we get closer to solar maximum,” said Michael Hesse, chief of heliophysics at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

That is all. NASA's imagery is cool. More tomorrow. When my brain will be able to do more than watch this: