This is how to watch a total eclipse of the sun! These are two of Vince and Jo Anne's neighbors in the community, and knowing that the temperature will drop they made themselves comfortable in their chairs, with some rocks for footstools!
I set up my 4 inch refractor on it's equatorial mount, which tracks objects in the sky, early in the day to make sure it was properly aligned to track the sun. Lots of people in this community are walkers and so there were a lot of visitors who wanted to know about this and about the eclipse. You will notice, sadly that the skies are overcast and it didn't look good for any clearing.
About ten minutes before totality, it started to get dark and you can see that the clouds were still with us. You can see that some of the outside lights on the houses in the distance have already turned on automatically. So it was even darker than it appears here.
I was expecting it to be dark during totality, even though we couldn't see the sun, but I was stunned at how quickly it got as dark as night and how dark it was. It was wonderful to see, and in a minute or two to go from sort of getting dark, to this!
There is a phenomena during total eclipses that because the shadow of the moon is large, it is only about a hundred and fifteen miles wide, and even in clear skies, if you can see the horizon, you will see a sunset all around you because the shadow only goes out so far. And the sky there is still fully illuminated. So it was a big disappointment to not see the total eclipse, but it was still incredibly exciting to see how quickly the night came on and how dark it was, so that was a pretty good consolation prize, and it was a joy to meet so many neighbors who saw the telescope and who stopped by to talk! That may have been the day's gift!
5 comments:
Hello Ken,
I posted best wishes for the eclipse whenever you had "practice, practice, practice" sessions. Well, eventhough you couldn't see totality, you actually observed something else & got to know the neighbours, I'm sure some were fascinated by your equipment setup, not to mention the science behind it - which you would have explained very well as well.
I watched eclipse footage on CBS news today, elsewhere lots of Americans enjoyed the spectacle, including a number of couples who decided to to exchange wedding vows during totality.
Australia's turn will be 22-July-2028, and Sydney will be in the path. Fancy a trip down under??
Cheers... Nha
PS. Enjoy the drive home. Sam & Grace are missing you & Kathy :-)
Wonderful photos. We sat out and watched the eclipse which was only supposed to be 92%. Loved seeing the moon move and the sun looked like a crescent moon and turned downward and looked like a smiley face. It got very cold but it did not get as dark as I expected. Some clouds made it hazy at time.
Joan
I’m sorry that the clouds obscured your view. Sounds like you made the best of it by chatting with neighbors and photographing the dark sky. And you and Kathy got to visit with Vince and JoAnn. Win win! I went to Wickham Park in Manchester with my friend, Cheryl. We walked around a few gardens then ate our picnic lunch in between looking at the Eclipse. She had not see the one in 2017 so she was excited to watch this. We got to see the the crescent shape getting smaller and smaller and then the shape angled towards the bottom until it looked like a bowl. Then clouds got too dense and we couldn’t see any more. It was very chilly and seemed more like dusk but never got dark. It was still a magical experience. Betsey
Although the eclipse itself was not visible, at least you got to experience the awe of the darkening effects....
Hope to see you and Kathy here in nOz in 2028 for our next eclipse.
Lachlan & Annette.
Wow, these are really neat shots of the increasing darkness! I do believe that the eclipse is something you can “feel” even if you can’t see it, as the obscuring of the sun is so rare and unusual, and you captured this aspect of the phenomenon so beautifully, with the light in the distance below the clouds, and the neighborhood lights going on — very cool, Dad! -Liz
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