My sister likes to follow anything to do with astronomy and space and told me that she had gotten the special glasses needed to view the eclipse. I had never had the chance to view a solar eclipse before so this was going to be something special to me. Luckily I had off from work that day so I was able to spend the afternoon outside with my sister. Well first off, it was a beautiful and mostly clear day here in Florida, at least where my sister and I live. The temperature was pleasant and the humidity was low, in other words perfect weather.
We went in our backyard about an hour before the eclipse actually started. I just wanted to enjoy the weather, and my sister set up her camera and tripod. We had fun taking selfies with the special glasses on and also enjoyed each other’s company. With the special glasses if you want to know for future reference, make sure it says ISO and that when you look through them that it is completely dark. You will only be able to see the sun. If you can see through them like sunglasses, they are not safe for direct viewing of the sun. Even when we were taking selfies, it was a guessing game as to whether we were getting a good shot or not.
In the picture above was one shot that I got with my cell phone through the special filter that came with the glasses. This was during the first phase when the moon started to cover the sun. I couldn’t seem to capture anymore distinct shots with my phone so I decided to just shoot the sun plainly since I had the special glasses on. One of those pictures is below this. I thought it turned out pretty cool with the rings.
Now, my sister tried various settings on her camera and finally captured her best shot through the filter. That picture is below. Awesome shot, I think.
This picture she took was just about to the 60 % coverage point that we were going to see. In Florida, we weren’t in the path to see a full eclipse so it ended up looking like a crescent moon, only with the sun. It was very interesting to see how this worked though. And to even see the clouds pass directly in front of the bright glowing sun at times was pretty cool. We could also feel the temperature difference at the same time which gave us the mental connection of it all. With the glasses on, the glow of the sun was more concentrated and looked like a bright light bulb in a very dark room. With our eyes we didn’t see the orange glow around it like in the pictures. I think that that was created by the filter and the camera.
We get so used to seeing the shine of the sun on a regular day that we don’t necessarily think of it as a hot glowing ball of light. And then to observe the moon going almost directly in front of it was fascinating. What my sister and I also thought was interesting was how the astronomers/scientists had the timing of each phase right on point. We could really tell at the end when the moon moved completely off of the sun and it was at the time that they had said. In our area, it was 4:17 pm when the moon was no longer visible in front of the sun.
This whole experience makes me appreciate the knowledge and understanding that these Astronomers/scientists have and share with us. To be able to understand the positioning and movement of everything in space has got to be fascinating. I applaud the men and women who can and do do this, I thank you. I’ve seen many movies about planetary disasters and such in space and am not sure if any of them I’ve seen could really happen. But, because of our astronomers/scientists out there, I feel more at ease knowing that they are keeping an eye on the sky for us.
So, all and all, it was a very pleasant day for me. The experience was fascinating and the company I had for it was nice. My sister and I usually do have fun on our little adventures when we get to have them. Even if it was just in our own backyard this time it was still fun. Thank you Sis for getting the glasses and spending the day with me, it was very knowledgeable and enjoyable.
So glad you got to see it. I had gotten those special glasses the last time there was a solar eclipse. This time I didn't since we were not going to be able to see the total eclipse and we were supposed to have rainy weather. We had the local news channei on and they covered the eclipse and all that awful weather all day. So we were able to see it on the tv in between satellite disruptions. The weather here was sooo bad we stayed up working puzzles and playing cards. Luckily we had no power outage here on our road. Others in the area were out for hours. We finally went to bed about 1 pm Wednesday.
It was my pleasure sissy, I'm very glad you enjoyed it. Even though it was another not until I say, "oh, we're going to watch the eclipse and I already got the special glasses and also for our phones or camera". I should have talked it over with you first, so I'm very happy that you enjoyed the whole experience. 💞