About That Eclipse
Yesterday was the solar eclipse and I was in an area of 92% magnitude which is considered a deep partial. It was pretty cool but nowhere near as dramatic as it was in the areas of totality.
Still, my fellow librarians and I ventured outside for the experience. Things we noticed: the shadows were odd, the light was sort of grey, and the temperature dropped quite a bit. Here’s a photo my colleague took with her phone:
Definitely cool.
What wasn’t so cool was that our phone was ringing off the hook all day with people looking for eclipse glasses. Now, we did have glasses, but we had given them all out over a week earlier. It was as if people woke up yesterday and heard about this event for the first time. It makes me think there are 2 types of people in the world: those who plan ahead and . . . everyone else.
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I’m glad you got to see it! We had almost total cloud cover, so we didn’t see anything. My neighbor came out, looked at the sky (without glasses) and John and I both shouted, “Don’t look!” There are also people who heed warnings and those who don’t.
It was pretty amazing… but I laughed right out loud at your “two types of people” thoughts… The ones that don’t were probably the same ones Googling “why do my eyes hurt” post-eclipse!
As one of those who really, really likes a plan, well, I can confirm your assessment.
Wasn’t much to see here either. I was at work and volunteered to go collect the shopping carts out of the parking lot so I could check it out. It really wasn’t that much to see. It didn’t get dark but the light was just… wrong. It wasn’t the low, the sun is setting light, it was just sort of shimmery and…. wrong. Sort of like just before the sky goes green from a bad thunderstorm. Hard to explain, but at least I can say I participated.
I’m sorry you had to deal with all those folks who lack the ability to plan ahead! We had 97% totality here, though we also had some clouds. Fortunately it cleared up enough to see it! It was definitely something amazing to see and experience.
Nailed it!
It just felt weird here… I didn’t have glasses*, and maybe I’d have enjoyed it more, but it just made me feel weird (a little sick, even) when the sunlight dimmed.
*Not due to lack of planning… more of a MEH feeling about it all. 🙂
We were at 99.9% totality here and it was quite a show! It got significantly cooler, dark like dusk, and the street lights came on. The birds got quiet and as the light returned they were singing like it was morning! We are just a few miles from totality and it was crazy around here! Lots of traffic, license plates from all over, and cars stopped along roads and highways.
It was such a cool thing to see the eclipse — even at less than totality. We had nearly 97% coverage here, and all I could see was the slightest line of sun still showing. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t darker than it was . . . but that’s the power of sunlight! Tom’s tales of the eclipse in totality are quite awesome — but his tales of driving back to Michigan afterward made me glad I sat in my garden to watch!!! That’s a quite good photo your co-worker took. (I didn’t even try. . .) (And, just so you know, I got my eclipse glasses in January. . .)
Cloudy and very very partial on the west coast, but I loved totality in 2017! I still have my eclipse glasses from then. I’d love to see another one, but I guess I’ll have to go to another continent because there won’t be one here til a long time from now!