Barlow SkyWatch: Experience of a Lifetime
Mind Bending | October 26, 2017
Story & Photo By Alan J Peche, Director, Barlow Planetarium
The total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21 was truly an “All American Total Solar Eclipse!” The United States was the ONLY country to experience this eclipse! The ONLY ONE! The last eclipse that touched this much of the United States was back in 1918 – 99 years ago!
Planning for our solar eclipse encounter started a year in advance. I studied the eclipse path map and found a small town south of St. Louis, MO that was directly on the center line (allowing for maximum eclipse). The town was a relatively small town – just a few thousand people with a couple of hotels.
I contacted the local school district and arranged to observe the eclipse from school property. Many schools cancelled classes for the day due to concerns about traffic and buses; the schools in the eclipse area had an “ECLIPSE DAY!” Many schools also provided eclipse shades for their students! BRILLIANT!
As time drew near, I watched the weather closely. Local meteorologists were forecasting clouds – however, I was looking at the data myself and didn’t see it as an issue – at least not until after totality. So, even though the local St. Louis area forecast was questionable, we stayed.
I was able to set up in a courtyard of the local junior high school that had granted us permission. We had access to the air conditioning of the school, access to the teacher’s lounge and, more importantly, access to the school’s WIFI with a direct link to the internet.
The partial phase of the eclipse started as predicted. When it reached about 50% eclipse my oldest daughter commented that it seemed noticeably cooler, although it didn’t look much dimmer. We all had solar eclipse glasses, our cameras, and binoculars.
In the minutes leading up to totality, we witnessed, what I believed to be, the NASA jets “racing” ahead of the Moon’s shadow – a shadow was traveling in excess of 1000 miles per hour!
At about 15 seconds before totality I removed the filter from my camera and started shooting as quickly as possible. I was able to capture the first “diamond ring”. Once totality started we removed our eclipse shades, watched the stars and planets (especially Venus and Jupiter) come out, and watched the sunrise/sunset completely engulf the entire horizon around us. It was amazing.
While shooting during totality, I realized that 2 minutes and 40 seconds seems to go by in a flash! I continued shooting until about 15 seconds after totality without a filter to capture the second “diamond ring” as clouds began to build. Then, we watched the “flights to nowhere” make their wide turns to return to their airports of origin.
I have spent nearly 30 years as an informal astronomy/physics/mathematics educator. I have planned numerous astronomical viewing events: partial solar eclipses, lunar eclipses (partial and total), a Mercury transit and two Venus transits (the most rare of astronomical events). This was the first time I was able to spend such a great astronomical event with my family. August 21, 2017 will be a date that is figuratively burned into my family’s memory; I will remember it forever.
Visit BarlowPlanetarium.org for a SkyChart and more on astrology.
