eclipsed

Aug. 21st, 2017 04:53 pm
underused: an illustration of a collared trogon,  a type of tropical bird (Default)
[personal profile] underused
I will admit I'm not someone who gets excited about celestial events. I wasn't thinking about today's eclipse and might have missed it completely if C hadn't come into the office with an empty cereal box looking for tape to make a pinhole camera.

But I heard someone on the radio telling a story about another eclipse and how their science teacher very excitedly told them to "go find a tree!" The leaves on trees would function as a whole collection of pinhole cameras, projecting hundreds--even thousands--of little eclipses onto the ground below.





Who knew?

Date: 2017-08-21 09:35 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
Who knew?

I did--having observed the effect long before on May 10, 1994 (as did Stephen Jay Gould: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/dinosaur.htm)

I was unable to snag any special glasses, but (after sneaking a couple furtive fraction-of-a-second glances through welding goggles over polarized sunglasses) I enjoyed the crescent shadow effect in the dappled shade of the locust trees at the Dayton Mall bus hub, conveyed by slightly grimy 40-watt sunlight.

(And then, of course, you have the free spirits who ain't gonna let no one, nohow, tell them what to do.)

Date: 2017-08-22 10:17 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
Out of curiosity, did you also suspect who was going to be involved?

Date: 2017-08-22 11:19 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
To paraphrase Spinal Tap: "Everyone knows 'oo 'ee is...and...wot 'ee's been doin'." (What, or indeed if, he's thinking is another matter altogether.)

Date: 2017-08-21 09:49 pm (UTC)
mandralyne: lilly (Default)
From: [personal profile] mandralyne
I have a couple of really cool pictures of the eclipse through the leaves. I wish the news had talked about this before, because it was the coolest.

Date: 2017-08-21 10:44 pm (UTC)
thedaughteroftyr: A black and white photo of me vaping (Default)
From: [personal profile] thedaughteroftyr
Yeah the tree method is great. I had admittedly forgotten about it until I saw a Twitter post this morning (Joseph Gordon-Levitt I think?)

I got a few snaps partially obstructed that resulted in some pretty funky eclipse shaped lens flares.

Bee slept.

Date: 2017-08-22 04:25 am (UTC)
thedaughteroftyr: A black and white photo of me vaping (Default)
From: [personal profile] thedaughteroftyr
Yeah I posted a couple shots over on my instagram account (I was totally one of "those people" today)

I never took any Astronomy but it is definitely something I've had an interest in my whole life.

Date: 2017-08-22 03:44 am (UTC)
umadoshi: (walking in water)
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
I'm commenting both to say that that picture is wonderful (the internet is full of so many amazing photos today!) and to say hello, as a new subscriber. ^_^

Date: 2017-08-22 02:32 pm (UTC)
umadoshi: (lilacs 01)
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
I'm living vicariously through other people's pics--I'm in Atlantic Canada, and we didn't get much of the eclipse--but I've really been enjoying hearing about it. (It's amazing to see so much of the news NOT dominated by awfulness.) And apparently the eclipse coming in 2024 will be much more visible from my neck of the world, so now I'm looking forward to it.

Date: 2017-08-23 03:00 am (UTC)
umadoshi: (ocean 01)
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
Are you near the ocean? If you get that all year, it's better than one little eclipse!

I'm not too far from the ocean (I'm in Halifax), but I don't get to the shore as often as I'd like.

Date: 2017-08-23 07:19 pm (UTC)
umadoshi: (sea turtle 01 (totaldevotion))
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
the only time I really went to the shore is when other people would visit. Heh.

Same here. And it doesn't help that Halifax looks like it's surrounded by ocean, until you realize that it's largely the harbor and the Bedford Basin. (I have a quiet horror of the thought that sometimes tourists from landlocked places may see the harbor and form a terrible impression of "the ocean" based on it.)

Date: 2017-08-25 04:17 am (UTC)
umadoshi: close-up of a sea turtle's face (sea turtle 02 (furriboots))
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
I don't think you have to worry.

That does help, in a way. *wry* Oh, the harbor. Although at least it's much improved in the last several years. (Even if, as my husband says, by the time they got the sewage treatment plant up and running it'd taken so long that the design no longer meets all of the current standards.)

Peggy's Cove is glorious. ^_^

My parents lived in a much less-populated cove until right before I was born, and I've always had a streak of sadness that I didn't get to grow up out there.

Date: 2017-08-26 01:44 am (UTC)
umadoshi: (hands full of light and water (roxicons))
From: [personal profile] umadoshi
From what my parents have said, I have to admit winters sound like they were pretty awful sometimes. (Or maybe most of the time.) But it doesn't keep me from wishing.

Date: 2017-08-22 04:08 am (UTC)
amidthestars: (Default)
From: [personal profile] amidthestars
This is beautiful.

Date: 2017-08-23 12:08 am (UTC)
amidthestars: (Default)
From: [personal profile] amidthestars
Ohhhh. Yeah, that's magic.

Date: 2017-08-25 07:54 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
Now, that image looks as though Artemis, running through the forest, left a trail of footprints.

Date: 2017-08-22 10:24 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
For whatever it might be worth, your shadow in the top picture seems to be making a gesture of reverence.

Date: 2017-08-22 10:44 pm (UTC)
balganwall: It's my face! (Default)
From: [personal profile] balganwall
I wish I'd known about the little crescents. You lucky so-and-so. I'm glad you got a cool experience!

My own experience was akin to messing around with a Photoshop layer (setting the multiply setting on a solid black layer and lowering the opacity to 75%). It darkened considerably indoors, as if dusk had fallen. Not too impressive. At least I can still say that I saw the first coast-to-coast eclipse in 100 years.

I listened to the StarTalk episode about the eclipse, and the guest said that if eclipse glasses aren't available, the next best thing are welding glasses. But doing a search on them pulls up a few sources that say they might not be safe. Not that I'd feel safe staring at any part of the sun, even with protection; it's that overly cautious part of me.

Date: 2017-08-24 10:30 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
Word from the opthalmologist (the appointment having been scheduled this week anyway) is that I suffered no damage from brief suspenders-and-a-belt eclipse-viewing.

(That said, I mean to take no chances in 2024; I later learned that my brother and sister-in-law sprang for the authorized glasses, including spares for their guests.)

Date: 2017-08-23 12:01 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mr_picard
Oh wow, that's an awesome picture!

Date: 2017-08-25 07:56 pm (UTC)
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
From: [personal profile] full_metal_ox
It's a bit like hunting basilisks or Medusa, isn't it.

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