Total Eclipse of the Sun
Apr. 8th, 2024 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI am lucky enough to live in the path of today's total eclipse. I walked to the library where they had viewing glasses, a lawn with good visibility, craft projects, and aptly named snacks such as moon pies and Starburst and cosmic brownies.
The bad news is the sky was cloudy, horizon to horizon. I feared I would be calling this a double eclipse, with the sun being eclipsed by both the moon and the clouds.
But the good news is that the cloudiness was not a homogeneous thick layer, but variably thick clouds and the other good news is that there was a breeze. So mostly the eclipse was not visible, but regularly, it would be revealed. Sometimes it was completely clear with a perfect view, but usually, you could see bits of cloud moving across the moon. It was fabulous! I've seen partial eclipses before, but none were as spectacular as today's.
And it was fun watching it get darker outside, as if a thunderstorm were approaching.
The actual totality was even visible for maybe 4 seconds. I know because I heard everyone around me exclaiming. I was looking right at it, but saw nothing. I now think you have to take the viewing glasses off to be able to see it. Why didn't anyone say? Not even the parents who'd been lecturing their kids on never looking without wearing the glasses. Dang!
It did get a lot darker outside, nowhere near pitch black, but a bit darker than for most thunderstorms, so that was pretty cool. The street lights even went on for a few minutes, like they do at dusk.
Fortunately, as I was passing back through the library to go home, the librarian at the desk was showing someone a video that someone at another library had taken, and I walked over and looked. It was fantastic! I've only seen still photos before, but this video showed the light around the moon as bright and changing. And whatever the magnification was, it felt like it was exactly as I would have seen had I taken off my glasses. So no solar flares, but wonderful undulating bright white light. So it was a satisfying end to my experience.
Also, they had stickers. :-)
The bad news is the sky was cloudy, horizon to horizon. I feared I would be calling this a double eclipse, with the sun being eclipsed by both the moon and the clouds.
But the good news is that the cloudiness was not a homogeneous thick layer, but variably thick clouds and the other good news is that there was a breeze. So mostly the eclipse was not visible, but regularly, it would be revealed. Sometimes it was completely clear with a perfect view, but usually, you could see bits of cloud moving across the moon. It was fabulous! I've seen partial eclipses before, but none were as spectacular as today's.
And it was fun watching it get darker outside, as if a thunderstorm were approaching.
The actual totality was even visible for maybe 4 seconds. I know because I heard everyone around me exclaiming. I was looking right at it, but saw nothing. I now think you have to take the viewing glasses off to be able to see it. Why didn't anyone say? Not even the parents who'd been lecturing their kids on never looking without wearing the glasses. Dang!
It did get a lot darker outside, nowhere near pitch black, but a bit darker than for most thunderstorms, so that was pretty cool. The street lights even went on for a few minutes, like they do at dusk.
Fortunately, as I was passing back through the library to go home, the librarian at the desk was showing someone a video that someone at another library had taken, and I walked over and looked. It was fantastic! I've only seen still photos before, but this video showed the light around the moon as bright and changing. And whatever the magnification was, it felt like it was exactly as I would have seen had I taken off my glasses. So no solar flares, but wonderful undulating bright white light. So it was a satisfying end to my experience.
Also, they had stickers. :-)