Eclipse
Saw the eclipse. It was cool.
We're in about the 80% band up here. Part of me was wishing I'd had my act together enough to head down to view the totality, but the rest of me looked at the anticipated crowds and decided the backyard was just fine. And it was. My homemade eclipse glasses (a couple welding filters, some cardboard and duct tape) worked very well; I could even slide one filter out for viewing through clouds and then back in for unobstructed sun. And there were some clouds, especially earlier on, but there was more than enough clear for decent viewing.
My favorite part: The sun, looking like nothing more than a crescent moon, gliding behind just enough cloud cover to be comfortably viewed with the naked eye.
Atmospheric dispersion is impressive; even at 80% eclipse, the light level was no less than that of a mildly cloudy day. There was an odd quality to the light, though I'm not sure it was enough to call attention to itself if I hadn't already been considering it.
So I had a good time weeding flower beds and hanging out with the cats, and checking the eclipse every few minutes. At the very end, just as the last little nibble at the edge of the sun's disc was rounding out, the keyhole in the clouds closed in, as though drawing a curtain on the show.
This entry was originally posted at http://lizvogel.dreamwidth.org/164310.html because I got tired of dealing with whatever LiveJournal had broken this time. Comment whereever.
We're in about the 80% band up here. Part of me was wishing I'd had my act together enough to head down to view the totality, but the rest of me looked at the anticipated crowds and decided the backyard was just fine. And it was. My homemade eclipse glasses (a couple welding filters, some cardboard and duct tape) worked very well; I could even slide one filter out for viewing through clouds and then back in for unobstructed sun. And there were some clouds, especially earlier on, but there was more than enough clear for decent viewing.
My favorite part: The sun, looking like nothing more than a crescent moon, gliding behind just enough cloud cover to be comfortably viewed with the naked eye.
Atmospheric dispersion is impressive; even at 80% eclipse, the light level was no less than that of a mildly cloudy day. There was an odd quality to the light, though I'm not sure it was enough to call attention to itself if I hadn't already been considering it.
So I had a good time weeding flower beds and hanging out with the cats, and checking the eclipse every few minutes. At the very end, just as the last little nibble at the edge of the sun's disc was rounding out, the keyhole in the clouds closed in, as though drawing a curtain on the show.
This entry was originally posted at http://lizvogel.dreamwidth.org/164310.html because I got tired of dealing with whatever LiveJournal had broken this time. Comment whereever.