Eclipse first, the rest nowhere

[sovay]

The cloud cover comes and goes and we may not be able to see any of the broken rings of leaf-light that I remember so fondly from the annular eclipse of 1994, but through the (carefully purchased from the NASA-recommended manufacturer) glasses I can see that a shadow has already bitten the sun. I am off to see how much more it devours before we drive it away into the swinging dance of planetary bodies again. I am wearing my Miskatonic University T-shirt. It seems appropriate to this brush with the cosmos.

[edit] No leaf-rings, but I saw the crescent sun: through eclipse glasses it looked like a hunter's moon. I didn't expect much effect on the afternoon so far out of the path of totality, but it was strange light to walk around in, slightly thickened, slightly smoked, the wrong angle and the wrong color for plain overcast or sunset. spatch said it was like someone had dropped a filter over the sun and of course someone had: the moon. We walked to the library and back and intermittently looked up at the sky until the crescent began to widen again and then the real overcast thoughtfully rolled in.

Comments

[zdenka]

I didn't see any leaf-crescents either, but I stopped by the Somerville West library's eclipse party to use their viewing glasses when the eclipse was winding down. It was really neat to see. One woman had brought a shaggy dog that was totally chill about the whole eclipse thing and just wanted head-scritches.

I couldn't see much difference when I was just walking around outside; if I hadn't known I would have thought it was just normal overcast.

[sovay]

I didn't see any leaf-crescents either, but I stopped by the Somerville West library's eclipse party to use their viewing glasses when the eclipse was winding down.

I'm sorry we missed you! I had two books to pick up, so we were there right around the closest we got to totality. I hadn't realized it was a formal viewing party; that would explain why people offered us glasses.

I couldn't see much difference when I was just walking around outside; if I hadn't known I would have thought it was just normal overcast.

The best I can describe is that it was the wrong quality and the wrong angle for its color. I agree it was a slight difference, but it was like a later afternoon light earlier in the day. It would have been interesting to see if it was more or less perceptible on a clearer day.

[zdenka]

Yeah, they were having some kind of event, though it was populated mostly by small children when I wandered through. Sorry to have missed you.

I did notice a dimming! Just not a lot. I guess I was hoping for something more dramatic. But the eclipse itself as seen through glasses was as dramatic as I could ask for.

[sovay]

But the eclipse itself as seen through glasses was as dramatic as I could ask for.

I watched the last eclipse through a pinhole camera and scattered crescents of sunlight under the trees. I had never looked safely at the face of the sun before. It just made me smile.

[ethelmay]

The best I can describe is that it was the wrong quality and the wrong angle for its color. I agree it was a slight difference, but it was like a later afternoon light earlier in the day.

It felt to me in Seattle (which was sunny and had something like 92%) like a morning in the mountains: chilly light from an unusual angle. The drop in temperature was almost more noticeable than the drop in light -- that is, it seemed more like a change in the quality of the light than the quantity.