This is the Classical Astronomy Update, an email newsletter especially for Christian homeschool families (though everyone is welcome!) Please feel free to share this with any interested friends.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork. - Psalm 19:1
IN THIS
UPDATE Eclipse Reports and Photos
Hello
Friends,
The "Eclipse Across America" has come and gone and is now in the history books. What had previously been the exclusive domain of a handful of eclipse devotees is now the common experience of millions of ordinary Americans. A great many people now understand that a Total Eclipse of the Sun really is a big deal after all. Many more have learned from experience that
totality is only observed along the narrow path of totality where a 100% eclipse was seen. And the vast majority of Americans now know that our nation will be visited again by totality in only a few short years, on Monday, April 8, 2024.
Thanks to everyone who read this newsletter and heeded the eclipse announcements. I felt like the "Eclipse Jeremiah" for two years,
telling people far and wide that the eclipse was coming and that advance preparations were required. As expected, the news media ignored the eclipse story until the very last minute, short weeks before Eclipse Day. This created a mad rush as millions of Americans made hasty, last-minute eclipse arrangements.
For example, I had been selling Eclipse Shades since 2015, and
they were not moving at all through most of 2017. As of July 15, I was looking into places to make donations, fearing that I would be saddled with thousands of extra units of unsold inventory. But abruptly, the media started pushing the eclipse story and those Shades sold out in just a week's time. I even ordered an additional 3000 and those were sold out even before the shipment arrived on July 31.
The American public at large was disinterested and/or unbelieving in the eclipse story until it was "officially" reported in the news media. Others like myself engaged in "eclipse outreach" observed similar disinterest by the public until the last-minute media frenzy began. It's as if most Americans did not believe the eclipse would be a big deal. After all, if an eclipse is such a momentous event, why were we only
hearing about it from some wacky astronomy guys on the internet? Why was it not headline news? This ought to be a good point, after all.
Unfortunately, since the eclipse was a non-story until the eleventh hour, this created the resulting problems, such as the shades shortage. The manufacturers of eclipse glasses are small companies with 20 employees. They do a modest
business most of the time. There was no way they could make and distribute millions of glasses with short weeks to spare. As a result, many Americans suffered eye injuries from improper eye protection due to bogus knock-off glasses from China.
Same with the traffic problems. Instead of
millions of Americans planning their vacations around the eclipse, the roads were clogged by hasty eclipse day trippers who had only just heard the news. Once the traffic concerns were spawned, many hopeful eclipse observers were scared off by media fear-mongering. Many others were interested but could not call off from work on such short notice. Hence our tag line, which I had been running since 2015... "Millions will see it, Millions more will wish they did." I
personally hold the media to be complicit in all these problems. Had the eclipse coverage begun at a suitable point months earlier, more Americans could have been timely notified and better prepared.
All editorializing aside, I want to thank all you readers who were proactive and made early eclipse preparations. According to reports, between 15 and 20 million Americans
witnessed totality in 2017, media botch-job notwithstanding. Many readers traveled with their families down to the path of totality for an unforgettable experience. Many others happily decided to observe the partial phases from home, and were grateful to have purchased Eclipse Shades well in advance of the mad rush. In this way, many homeschoolers, including the readers of this newsletter, were able to participate in this wonderful American
experience.
ECLIPSES ILLUSTRATED Ebook Series
If you have now become an "umbraphile" eclipse enthusiast, you might be more interested than ever in our eclipse ebook series Eclipses Illustrated. The first volume, Book 1 - The
Eclipse Experience, equips the reader to generally understand the eclipse phenomenon, both solar and lunar eclipses, including the sorts of sights that one can see during an eclipse. This volume includes a lot of discussion of future American solar and lunar eclipses in the 2020s and beyond in the 21st century. This way,
you can be informed in advance and need not be at the mercy of the media!
The second installment, Book 2: Eclipses and the Orbit of
the Moon, is for the eclipse enthusiast who wants a deeper understanding of the celestial causes that result in the eclipse phenomenon. This volume will help you understand and appreciate the "celestial clockwork" that produces eclipses.
Book 3 of the series is far along in production, and will
hopefully be available sometime in October or November. This installment will help the reader understand why the paths of totality are shaped as they are. Many are already wondering why the path of the 2024 eclipse is different than the 2017 eclipse, and why they "cross in the middle" over the Mississippi River. This installment will answer that question.
Please check out the Eclipses Illustrated series, only $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Please follow the link and check out the "Look Inside" preview or download the Free Sample.
Eclipse Reports and Photos
Like many Americans from coast to coast, our
group had a wonderful Eclipse Day experience. Our family joined friends from church and our local homeschool circles in Ohio down on a family farm in Hartsville, Tennessee. My report is at the end, following these other reports.
Many followers of Classical Astronomy offered their feedback, mostly on the Classical Astronomy Facebook page. All of North America, from Alaska to Central America, witnessed some phase of partial eclipse. Many people were very impressed with the sight of partial eclipse alone. I heard from many
friends back home in Cleveland who observed the 80% partial phase and found that to be an exciting experience. Here are some pix of the partial phase as seen from Tennessee, snapped by our church friend Becky. The first pic shows about an 80-some percent phase and the second is 90-some percent, shortly before totality. Here's what I heard from a couple Classical Astronomy friends who stayed home for the partial eclipse.
Christa:
Seattle area - clear skies! Not in totality but with the glasses we bought from you we got to see the shadow at 90%. Had a great experience. We are making plans for a trip to Texas for totality in
2024!
Marjorie: COMPLETELY AWESOME HERE IN HOUSTON! We didn't have totality but our kids (all homeschooled) and their friends had a great time
learning all about the sun and eclipses and the history and science behind them in the days leading up to the event. It was absolutely amazing to see a crescent sun!
(I haven't heard how Marjorie and her family are faring in Houston since Hurricane Harvey, but we pray that they are
well.)
Many others replied with favorable reports of observing totality. This was perhaps the most enthusiastic report received, from Si:
99% was NOT good enough! I am most sorry to all of you who really wanted to come and really wanted to be there but just were not able. I understand and hope you never have to miss such a thing again. I am very sorry to all of you who were spooked by the media hype again... but, we had a leisurely drive and got into a total of 10 minutes of traffic leaving Dayton. We were so blessed as to find a 40 acre field with open gate and a large platform for us
to gaze on the Solar Eclipse! Our experience is next to our salvation experience! Those rare occasions when you are so close to God then it so quickly begins to fizzle away... that was the Creator's Eclipse! Not the world's, but God's handiwork, in His firmament. I hope no one forgets to do what this verse tells them...
Psalm 150:1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
These are a sample of the pictures our son was able to capture, (laying on his side with broken up legs) but they do not compare to what we actually
saw. Colors that we do not know what to call them and a closeness that we want to share with all of you. Please do NOT miss the next one! If you are at all able to go then get there. Start planning now. You will NOT regret it. 45 seconds, that is what we had, and those 45 seconds were worth it to see totality. I cannot imagine the rapture, and the glory to follow.
We got this report with AWESOME pictures from Stan in Nebraska. Stan is a longtime reader of this newsletter and has always sent wonderful lunar eclipse pix over the years. But he really outdid
himself on these solar eclipse pix! Stan writes:
We live 5 miles inside the path of totality. We have tons of pictures. Words cannot describe our experience. What an awesome God we serve! We were not expecting the cotton candy clouds around the sun just prior to totality. They were beautiful pink and blue. We tried to get pictures of them, but
could not because the good camera was on the telescope.
It was cloudy all around us with the sun mostly clear until a short while after totality. God is good. What the camera on the telescope captured we could not see. Time was so short to take it all in. There was just too much to see. Note the pink prominences on Stan's pic, at about the 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock positions along the limb of the Sun. Here's a magnified section of that image. Wow!
Stan also shared this image from shortly after third contact. As always, many thanks to Stan for sharing his pix!
I think this is my favorite picture at the very end of totality. Wish it was centered a little better. This was the first time I had the telescope on the wedge and still had not changed the mount setting so we were manually
correcting the tracking. I still can't believe we were able to photograph it with such clarity with so may clouds in the sky! God is Good! Just 6 minutes later clouds started to obscure the view (2697). We are using Baader Solar Filter Film over the 10" LX200GPS scope. (filter off during totality) We purchased the film more then 10 years ago and have only used it a couple times. It does a nice job. I'm glad we have it. Glad to share the
pic's.
We received a couple reports from some of our friends in the homeschool publishing scene. Here's what Matthew Lewis from Home School Enrichment magazine had to say:
Well Jay, we made it to Hillsboro, Missouri for Eclipse Day, which had about 2:38 of totality. The weather was fantastic and we were totally blown away by the entire experience. It was, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We were in a rural
area, on a high hill, overlooking miles of countryside, and could actually see the shadow approaching.
I knew so many people who figured they'd seen the annular eclipse back in the 90's so they didn't need to see this one, or "surely 100% can't be that much better than 97.6%, right?" All I can say is, they should have believed you and everyone else who said this is different, and that
100% is worth seeing.
Truly an amazing event. Thanks for encouraging us to go ahead and commit to the travel. I'm so glad we did it, and we're actually already making plans to see the next one in 2024!
I am really thankful for your encouragement, Jay, and your informative posts. Because of them, we drove close to the center of totality, knew exactly what to look for and
what to expect, and had an absolutely wonderful time we will all remember all our lives. Thanks, my friend!
Many other wonderful reports were received from other Classical Astronomy friends (this is a LONG section!):
Kim: THANK YOU! We were so blessed to be in the path of totality, and decided to enjoy it from a field within walking distance of our house, along with friends from NC and PA. Thanks to you we were well prepared, and we were blessed with beautiful clear skies. We saw shadow bands/snakes, the diamond ring effect, birds became quiet
and crickets started chirping, so many amazing details in just 2 minutes! Wow! We not only had our approved glasses, our daughter raised $100 for her next mission trip by selling our extra glasses to last minute buyers driving by our viewing area. It was amazing to experience this event, which was put into motion so long ago. When Totality arrived and the spontaneous applause rose all around us, well, it was indescribable. Thanks again, from all of
us.
Susan: I loved it. Thank you for alerting us long ago. I made plans 18 mos. ago and bought glasses from you 6 mos. ago. I went to my sister's in SC and she lives on the totality line. It got cloudy just before totality so we drove down the street, found a brief patch of light,
saw totality for a moment before it clouded up again, but did get to experience the darkness and 360 "sunrise." It was amazing, and I can't wait for 2024.
Jennifer: Awesome. Thanks for being perhaps the first mention I saw of the upcoming eclipse so that I wasn't completely taken by surprise.
We were south of Nashville and set up a binocular on a tripod, which was so much better (in my opinion) than the eclipse glasses. Totality and shadow bands were so amazing!
Summer: Fantastic! There were a few things I wish I would have done differently was to buy a solar lens for my
camera so I could have photographed it. Thank you for posting for so long about this event! You are the reason my family and I were able to experience it at 100% totality.
Kimberly: I have read all your wonderful posts!! I am so glad I did, you sold me, 100% or nothing!
Our family drove 4 hours, found a wonderful camp ground & saw the most beautiful effects of a 100% totality..... ?? Thank you!
Suzanne: Thank you for all of your emails about the eclipse. It inspired us to take a trip to the Smoky Mountains last week to view totality from there.
It was awesome! We are so glad we went! Thanks for all your efforts to keep us informed about what is happening right above us.
Rebecca: It was amazing. Thank you. Thank you for giving us advance notice. For sharing your knowledge of what to expect and what
to watch for. Our house was in 99.87% totality. So we drove to a church within the line of totality. We brought our colander, a cardboard projection viewer, and our glasses. It was a fun afternoon that we will never forget.
Josie: It was ... amazing! Since we live where it was over
99% I almost didn't go the extra hour and a half to see totality, but comments made on this page convinced me that this was something I didn't want to miss. Wow! Experienced a rush I can't describe. Everyone around was cheering, as was I. There was Venus, a little west of the sun, the temps had dropped, the "evening" breeze was blowing, and the glow of the sun -- indescribable! I didn't want it to end. When it did, it was astounding just how quickly it got
bright again, our shadows returned, etc. Thank you for your encouragement to go for totality. A totally (heh) amazing experience.
Brenda: We braved the road for 18 hours to be in that 100% pathway. It's an experience our kids will never forget. We had a campground that
was in 98% and everyone there thought it was "good enough." I can't imagine people who were in the 98-99% areas that weren't willing to drive just a short ways to get the full totality.
Heather: The most amazing thing I have ever witnessed! We watched from the zoo in Nashville with
glasses purchased through you. I am so glad we made plans to go!
Gemma: I'm smitten. It was incredible. Clear skies. Perfect. I was surprised by how astonishing the 360 sunset was. I saw Bailey's Beads, three of them at the top of the Sun as the moon was leaving.
They turned into the brightest Diamond Ring. I was mesmerized. Only thing I missed was shadow bands. I think it was because I was so enamored by the sunset.
Edith: We had cloud cover in Eastern Nebraska, but it cleared enough to see the total eclipse. It was
awesome!
Michelle: It was soooo amazing! We were outside of Carbondale, IL. 2 mins, 36 secs. Fought clouds all afternoon. At 99% the sun was engulfed in clouds. We started praying. At 100% the clouds parted in an outward circle & we saw the corona. OH. MY.
BEAUTY!!!
Mike: Absolutely phenomenal. I can't imagine a more visually stunning sight this side of heaven. To witness this celestial miracle firsthand, with my own eyes, was truly cathartic.
Kari: We had 100% totality I believe for about a minute and a half in Knoxville. Darkness came on gradually. The clouds on the horizon looked like the would st sunset, lit up by the sun. It got about as dark as it does maybe 15 minutes after the suns below the horizon. Street lights came on. We saw the diamond ring before and after totality. Totality
was the best, so gorgeous with a rainbow ring around the edge if the moon and the suns corona waving behind it. We saw the shadow snakes on the pavement. We didn't see any crescents as there were no trees by us (parking lot at work). I wish totality could've lasted longer! Then it gradually got light again. Nothing creepy feeling about any of it.
Laura:
I so wished it lasted longer too! It was incredible.
Roni: It was spectacular! We stayed with friends just outside Nashville. I set up my binoculars on a tripod which helped us all view it in
more detail. The whole experience was amazing; can't wait for 2024! However, what are the chances we will have clear skies in April in Cleveland?
JA: So impressive! Had perfect weather here in western Oregon. My only gripe was that it didn't last
longer.
Jamie: My family and I went to Toccoa GA, we have family up there. It was spectacular! My girls (4 & 6) are wanting to make plans to go to Texas in 2024.
Angela:
100% totality, longest duration, perfectly clear skies, with family I'd not seen in over a year (just south of Carbondale, IL) -- phenomenal.
Thanks to everyone for your nice comments, glory to
God. Most of these sentiments and reactions are very common, and are the reasons why veteran eclipse chasers spend thousands of dollars traveling the far reaches of the globe in an ongoing search of totality. But sadly, clouds and rain are a reality of life on Earth. Not every location on the path of totality was blessed with clear skies on Eclipse Day....
Jennifer:
Disappointing. We traveled to totality only to see everything up until 2 minutes until totality and then heavy clouds roles in. I feel robbed not seeing the corona. I am making plans for 2024.
Sara: Oh well. We tried. The clouds did break up some at the beginning, so we did see a little bit, but not as much as we were hoping, obviously.
Jocelyn: We traveled to Kansas and had rain and complete cloud cover BUT totality was still amazing! We saw bats, felt
the temp change, watched street lights go on and were stunned by the beauty of the 360 degree sunset! I loved watching everyone just slowly spin round and round watching the horizon the whole time, something we may have missed if we were all staring at the sun... we'll try to see the sun in 2024.
If it's any consolation, everyone in the USA who missed should be grateful they were not clouded out on a fancy $5000 per person eclipse voyage to some remote locale! You hear numerous such stories for every eclipse! But good part is that America will have a do-over with totality in only another six-and-a-half years, on Monday, April 8, 2024. And that eclipse will pass over our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, where my family will have 3:45
of totality in our backyard! And beyond that, today's young people can look forward to further American eclipses in 2044, 2045 and 2052! So take heart, friends! The Golden Age of American total solar eclipses has just begun! Thanks, friends, for all your wonderful reports.
* * * * *
I had close personal friends who saw totality in various locations, including: Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska; Arnold, Missouri; Carbondale, Illinois; and Raybun, Georgia. Here's two more reports from friends who wrote emails. Here's one from my buddy Jim from New Carrollton, Maryland, reporting from somewhere in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee:The eclipse was awesome! We were dead center of total totality! We were at someone's yard in the country. We were hootin' and hollerin'! And we heard a neighbor doing the same at another house somewhere beyond my sight.
The 1250 mile road trip was totally worth it. God repeatedly granted our requests for special favors that were desires, not
needs.
Here's one from my old pal Joe from Waxhaw, North Carolina, who day-tripped to Columbia, SC:I read your article you sent me and started feeling convicted. I am only 1.5 to 3.0 hours depending on traffic, from totality. It would be a shame to settle for the .97 here in Waxhaw, knowing I
could have seen it all. So, I packed a lunch and drove to Columbia to a small church who was hosting an Eclipse Party.
I made two pin-hole cameras to pass around for others to see too and even passed around a saltine (heard it on the radio on the way to Columbia) to view the eclipse on a small white envelope. There were about 200 people in this small church parking lot. The church even had food
and games for the kids, cotton candy etc. I thought, "What a great evangelism tool for those who are not church friendly." How many seeds were planted with this act of kindness?
Thankfully, our newfound New Jersey friends had three extra eclipse glasses, but even so, the church had those too. I screamed out "Yeah God!" when full totality was
happening.
The full totality was awesome. I am so glad you sent your article to read. I would have missed it.
Thanks to everyone who shared their excellent reports. It's greatly
encouraging to me to read of so many who were blessed by this experience. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve the LORD in this manner to bless everyone's family. To everyone who missed, please make it a point at sometime in your life to see a full 100% total solar eclipse. Take it from all these testimonies, you won't regret it!
Our
Eclipse Story
I'll do my best to keep it brief! There's a lot to report, but I'll try to only hit the high points!
We had a great collective group experience with our private eclipse gathering in Hartsville, Tennessee. Our hosts were a wonderful homeschool
family who kindly opened their farm to so many eclipse vagabonds. They provided a camping area on their farm for tents and RVs, including porta-pots, running water and meeting tents where the guests could gather for meals and activities.
Having waited for the 2017 American eclipse since first hearing of it at age 8 in 1970, I was very grateful to our hosts for providing this wonderful opportunity for our family to share this eclipse with many close friends. There were perhaps 200 people on hand at the time of totality. One of the activities was making our own eclipse t-shirts, with acrylic paint on black shirts... a neat homeschool activity!
As the
resident "astronomy nerd," I helped prepare the group beforehand. The night before Eclipse Day, I did an evening constellation program under the Milky Way of Tennessee, pointing out Jupiter, which would be next seen during totality. This was followed by a powerpoint including many images from my ECLIPSES ILLUSTRATED ebooks, describing
terminology and phenomena that we could hope to see during the eclipse.
One thing that I emphasized in the powerpoint was the proximity of the eclipsed Sun to the star Regulus in the constellation Leo. This bright first magnitude star was only one degree from the Sun at eclipse time, a mere two solar diameters. There was much discussion beforehand in eclipse
circles as to whether or not Regulus would be visible during totality, whether the solar corona would be too bright to allow Regulus to be seen, or too large so as to swallow this star. I'm happy to report that Regulus was readily visible during totality, as were Jupiter and Venus, as depicted in this image from ECLIPSES ILLUSTRATED.
At 4:30 AM on Eclipse Day, I did a morning constellation program showing the progression of the constellations since evening, and also pointing out
Venus, which would again be visible during totality. A hearty band of earlybirds showed up. We got in about 45 minutes before "the dawn's early light" spoiled the show. So we all crashed a few more hours until breakfast.
The "first contact" of the partial phase of eclipse commenced right
around noon, CDT. Most everyone gathered in the center of this wide open pasture, in an area ringed with short mountains, a very beautiful setting with a big view of the sky overhead. I walked around with a small piece of pegboard, which projected images of the crescent Sun in perfect rows and columns onto the ground. For pix of this pegboard projection and some other eclipse pix,
including two videos of before and during totality, please visit the Classical Astronomy Facebook page.
The skies were very clear though the Tennessee haze though humidity was very high. It was not long into the partial phase when a noticeable temperature drop was apparent. Two-thirds of the Sun's energy is in the form of heat radiation, so when half the Sun is blocked, so is half the heat. Starting from a sweltering temperature, it soon became quite cool and comfortable during partial eclipse.
My friend Fred from church conducted measurements of the temperature drop. Fred is a fellow physicist and he and I are always talking about geeky science stuff. Fred brought a lounge chair with a built-in thermometer, which I called "Fred's tempera-chair." Fred describes his
methodology:
I made sure that the thermocouple probe was:
a.) in the shade
b.) over a shaded grassy area
c.) a few feet above the ground and
d.) in relatively free air (behind a lawn chair)
Sorry, Jay, I didn't document the remainder of the experiment but I did note the minimum temperature (a couple minutes ?or so? after totality) as 79 degrees after which the temperature began to increase. Hey, it's
not MY fault - if it weren't so AWESOME maybe I could have concentrated more on my proper experimental protocol!!!
Fortunately, I recorded the final time, and we obtained the following data:
12:24 PM - 96.2 degrees F 1:04 PM - 91.2 degrees F 1:27 PM - 83.4 degrees F (one minute
before totality) 1:31 PM - 82.0 degrees F (end of totality) 1:35 PM - 79.6 degrees F (4 min after totality)
Interestingly, the temperature continued to drop after the reappearance of the Sun. This makes sense as the Sun was still 90-some percent eclipsed, with that percentage of solar heat being blocked, so the temps remained cool for some time. Both Fred and I failed to note the time when the temps started
climbing again, but it was not very long after the last recorded temperature following the end of totality.
We had a cloud scare with less than a half-hour before totality. After a perfectly clear morning, lots of clouds were gathering around our location. Though they mostly stayed to the south, two
large clouds headed our way. The Sun was temporarily obscured by these clouds, and I feared they might persist and spoil our view of totality. I made the mistake of looking at the Sun without eclipse glasses. I briefly saw the crescent Sun filtered through the clouds but the view was way too bright and my eyes were dazzled. Thankfully the crescent spots cleared from my eyes and the clouds dispersed well ahead of totality, though a lot of smudgy haze remained in the sky in
the wake of the clouds.
At a deep percentage of partial eclipse, the sky still appeared as a full daylight sky, but the light had a strange quality. The blue sky appeared grey and washed out, as I recalled from witnessing the 95% annular eclipse over Cleveland in May, 1994. As totality approached, my
eagle-eyed 21yo son Rick was the first to spot Venus in the feeble, fading sunshine. It was a strange sight indeed to see the Morning Star shining low in the sky under the position of the Sun in full daytime, instead of its usual twilight perch above the eastern horizon before dawn. The sight of daytime Venus wowed the crowd, at least those who were able to spot Venus.
When totality was short minutes away, someone laughed that this bright sunshine was the view that was seen by those who chose to remain with 99% instead of driving a few miles into totality. It was indeed full sunshine, casting strong shadows, though the light was weak and soon to fail.
I called out when it was 1:27, less than one minute to totality. Venus was now an easy sight in the grey-blue sky, hovering like a UFO in the dwindling daylight. I looked to the northwest and saw the very strange sight of the approaching darkness of the lunar umbra. It was like a dark storm in a cloudless sky. I turned to look the other direction and the
sky was fully bright. I pointed out the darkness and heard female voices screaming. I felt momentary terror as the darkness seemed to move toward our location. It was freaky, like something out of Lord of the Rings, dark spirits of Mordor heading toward us. This was the most powerful emotion I felt during the entire eclipse experience.
We had white sheets spread out all over and my wife Debbie was gushing about the shadow bands dancing over the sheets. I have very poor eyesight and was only able to sense movement, like the shimmering of heat over a hot road. I did not directly see the shadow bands but perceived that movement.
I then looked up at the Sun and was STUNNED at the sight of the dwindling solar disc. This was the "diamond ring" transition to totality. I had apparently missed the Baily's Beads while looking at the advancing umbra and shadow bands. This is typical of previous reports of totality, there's just too much to see at the same time, you just can't catch everything at
once.
The diamond ring looked literally electric, like a glaring yellow asterisk, a multi-pointed spiky star that dwindled to nothing before my very eyes. This sight was unexpected, more stunning than I could have imagined from prior reports.
Then the Sun was extinguished! Totality had commenced! I announced loudly that it was THE TOTAL. ECLIPSE. OF THE SUN. As if anyone needed me to announce the obvious, There I was, standing looking at the corona. I turned and kissed my wife, who was crying.
I looked up again and stared for a time. I was told by so many eclipse chasers that the corona looked so different in real life compared to photographs, that the eye captures so much more detail than the camera. Maybe that was true of someone else's eyes but not mine. I was expecting to see a psychedelic apparition in the corona, some hidden marvel that eludes
photography. But the corona I saw in the sky looked exactly like every photo I'd ever seen. It was just a smudgy white halo around a black Sun. I was sort of crushed in that moment after hearing so much about the sight of the corona for so long.
My problem was likely due to having a 47 year
buildup, waiting since age 8 in 1970 to see totality, reading and hearing so many things beforehand about total solar eclipses for so many years. I apparently had stratospheric expectations for the eclipse experience which could not be realized by any reality.
I had heard so much about the emotionally-stirring qualities of totality and how it was such a "spiritual" experience. Nope, never happened. There were no goosebumps, no heart palpitations, no sense of euphoria or elation, no groovy, hippie-dippie feeling of being "one with the universe," no spiritual "mountaintop" experience whatsoever, and no sense of loss or desire to
see more when it was over. Don't get me wrong, it was a VERY cool sight. But it was ONLY a very cool sight, nothing more.
Upon reflection, it may have been my poor eyesight that let me down, since so many others in our group were blown away by the solar corona. But on the other hand, I've pondered
that perhaps not everyone is gushy for eclipses, eyesight notwithstanding. I spoke to many other friends my age, old guys like me, who agreed that it was very cool, but no sort of "mountaintop" emotional experience. Age was not just a factor either. My two sons and two daughters also thought it was very cool, but hardly a defining life event. But both my wife and my son's fiancee were crying and they were very emotionally moved by totality. Go figure. Guess
we're just cold fish in my gene pool.
Emotionalism notwithstanding, totality was certainly the most amazing sky spectacle I'd ever seen. "Fascinating" as Mr. Spock would say. At age 8 in 1970, all I wanted to see was a black Sun with a fuzzy white halo in a dark sky. That's pretty much what I
saw. This is perfectly fine since totality met my childhood expectations.
After maybe a 20-30 seconds of staring at the corona, trying to feel something, I realized I was not going to have an emotional meltdown. I quickly grew bored with the mere sight of corona alone and wanted to do something
productive with that short interval of totality, to document something. I felt very dispassionate and scientific about the whole experience and was more interested in observing the environment and studying the reactions of others.
The first thought in my head when I initially saw the corona was how closely it resembled the computer-generated predictions made beforehand (see
image above). So I grabbed my paper pad and pen to draw sketches of the corona, noting the size, shape and position of the "lobes" or "streamers" extending from around the blackened Sun. Here's a few of the sketches I made. Compare them to the predictions and the other photos. Unfortunately, I only had a ball point pen and did not have my usual Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils, so I could not capture the desired image. I intend to make some acrylic paintings to
represent the vivid image in my mind of the corona. I'll share those in an future newsletter. Below the sketches is a pic of the corona snapped by our friend Becky, showing all the features observed during totality.
At one point I turned around to see the amazing sight of Venus and Jupiter in the daytime sky, lying along the ecliptic,
defining the plane of the solar system, a sight which I had long wanted to see. Everyone in our party was blown away by the 360 degree eclipse twilight, a bright orange twilight color visible along the horizon between the mountains.
The extent of the darkness was very fascinating as I had been told to expect a bluish sky in a stage similar to nautical twilight. Rather, it struck my feeble eyes as a black sky, somewhat like a Full Moon at midnight in the wintertime over a snow covered field. I turned and looked around at the crowd and at our host's house. It was a dark scene more like the earlier nighttime constellation
programs than the middle of the day.
At some point following the onset of totality, my eagle-eyed son Rick was the first to spot Regulus, only two solar diameters from the Sun. This was very
exciting for me, more so than seeing the corona itself. A lot of people have confused Regulus with Mercury, which was not visible during totality. Note Regulus in my sketches and also in Becky's photo, along with most other photos taken of the 2017 USA eclipse.
The sights that impressed me the most were the unexpected sights -- the advancing umbra, the diamond ring, Regulus, Venus and
Jupiter and the 360 degree eclipse twilight. It occurred to me later, after the fact, that I was much more powerfully moved emotionally by the dazzling fireball meteor over Faith Ranch in 2013, which was certainly an unexpected sight. So I learned that having longstanding
expectations from sky events like eclipses definitely dampens the emotional response, though it prepares one for dispassionate scientific observation.
At some point, I noted the
prominences along the western limb of the Sun, at 2 'o'clock and 5 o'clock positions, indicated by arrows on one of my sketches. These were visible as a distinct pink color. The bright magenta rim of the solar chromosphere appeared along the western rim of the Sun. This was accompanied by a brightening in the sky to the west of the Sun. The pink and the brightening were the tell-tale signs warning of the imminent end of totality. I announced to the gathering that
totality was soon ending and to enjoy the last few seconds.
Then the blackness was ended by the spiky yellow electric asterisk of the second diamond ring, as the Sun's brightness burst
forth over the limb of the Moon. I called out "diamond ring" and my wife echoed. The whole gathering erupted in cheering.
I looked away from the Sun in that moment, not wanting to stare
into its increasing brightness. I was looking at the ground and it was like someone took a dimmer switch to the landscape and turned up the brightness. Before my eyes, the light on the ground went from midnight darkness to full midday sunshine.
I wanted to observe the signs of egress once totality ended, especially Baily's Beads and the receding of the umbra. But people surrounded me right away for the duration of egress, telling me their own emotional experiences and thanking me for my involvement in the gathering. It was nice to hear everyone's enthusiasm but I sort of missed the back end of the partial phases.
Moreover, as soon as totality ended, so many people split. I had encouraged everyone to hang around and visit rather than queue up in the nationwide eclipse traffic jam. But
people needed to get home and to go to work and attend to their business, so what can you do. I had also predicted that, from coast to coast, 30 seconds after totality, millions of car keys would be inserted into millions of ignitions as eclipse observers skedaddled back to their normal lives.
That evening, our hosts provided a musical performance by Jessie Clement, an 18yo singer with a beautiful voice who plays a beautiful guitar. Jessie is from central Tennessee and is currently in discussions for a recording contract. She's really good and I would not be surprised if we will soon be hearing her name. If Jessie does hit it big, we'll remember when we saw her perform on Eclipse
Day!
The entire eclipse experience was perfect for our family. Everything went without a hitch, praise God. It was a blessing to see the Psalm 19:1 glory of totality. Upon
reflection, it was a very normal, natural thing to see, certainly nothing ominous or terrifying or supernatural. I agree with everyone who has said that every human being should see totality in their lifetime. I hope that everyone reading this will have that opportunity.
* * * * *
I hope to soon crank out another
newsletter responding to this so-called "Revelation 12 sign." So please sit tight and hopefully that will be prepared within the next week or two.
For more information about topics from Classical Astronomy discussed in this newsletter, please check out a homeschool astronomy curriculum (but popular with adult readers too!)
Visit our archive of previous editions of the Classical Astronomy Update newsletters, going back to 2007.
*****
Til next time, God bless and clear skies,
- jay
The
Ryan Family Cleveland, Ohio, USA
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalm 8:3-4, a Psalm of
David
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