eclipsed

[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?

Comments

[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.)

[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.

[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.

[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. ^_^

[amidthestars]

This is beautiful.

[full_metal_ox]

For whatever it might be worth, your shadow in the top picture seems to be making a gesture of reverence.

[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.

[mr_picard]

Oh wow, that's an awesome picture!