Solar Eclipse!

As you may recall from my About page, I live in Portland, Oregon.  Today in Portland, we had a really clear and perfect day for viewing the solar eclipse that crossed North America.  While we were not in the path of totality, we did get 99.2% obscuration of the sun by the moon.  I was outside for the peak of it (10-10:30 am).  Here are the highlights (or lowlights, to be more apt). 

SOLAR GLASSES

The past few days in Portland, people have been frantically searching for any retailer that sells solar viewing glasses.  Or being glad that they already have theirs.  Or realizing with dismay that their glasses aren't certified.  Or buying up dozens and scalping them to the desperate.  (First World problems, I know!)  I had my glasses already, and they were real ones, so that was a relief.  But actually, it isn't that fun to look through them... they make the whole sky black, and the sun appears as a small orange circle, like a glowing cigarette end.  You can see very clearly the sun being obscured, but it doesn't look real.  So for me, at least, they were a novelty, not integral to the experience. 

A woman using the glasses

PINHOLE PROJECTOR

I made myself a pinhole projector to see the solar eclipse on a piece of paper.  Making the projector was super simple: I took a bit of cardstock from a soda box and poked a hole in its center with a pin.  Then I held it between the sun and a piece of paper, so the shadow of the projector fell on the paper, and there, in the pinhole, was the image of the eclipse. 

Any pinhole will do... look at the crescent of the sun in the center of the paper's shadow and in the little hole between my fingers!

The way it works is presumably simple as well, but I don't fully understand it.  The sun shines on a piece of paper.  If something gets in between the sun and the paper, there's a shadow.  Well, during a partial eclipse, the moon gets between the sun and the whole earth, but there's enough ambient light that the paper is still fully lit.  But if you put the pinhole projector between the sun and the paper, the shadow of the projector falls on the paper, and the light of the sun only goes through the pinhole, making a bright pinhole spot on the paper.  When the sun goes through the pinhole, it shows its obscured-by-the-moon self to the paper because there isn't room for the light to disperse.  Why it shows up upside-down and backward, I don't understand at all...!  According to Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), it's because light has to travel in straight lines.  But I don't see how light traveling in straight lines through a little hole makes an image flip. 

BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS

What I wasn't expecting was that this pinhole projection effect is found in the shadows of trees, as well!  (HartRAO explains that, as well, but I didn't know it before the eclipse.)  It was really cool to see the shadows on the sidewalk near me, and to see how they corresponded with the image on my paper.  Here are two sets of images: the sun before 99.2% obscuration, and the sun afterward:

sun-sliver on left, moon on right

lovely tree shadows show the same configuration

moon on left, sun-sliver on right

99.2%!

All around me, people stared upward with their solar glasses, but I liked to see the world around me, instead.  As the moon covered nearly all the sun, several things happened at once: the daylight dimmed to a strange gloaming or twilight; the air got colder and I got goosebumps; strange fluttery waves of light and shadow, very subtle, danced on the sidewalk; and people and animals alike grew silent. 

This picture on the left came out brighter than it should have, but you can at least see that the lights inside the little food cart are brighter than the day outside. 

And below you can see the ethereal beauty of a Julia Child Rose in the amber light. 

AFTERWARD

As the sun began to show itself again, the air warmed up, and people started to disperse.  Most talked happily about how cool it was, except for a few who were determined to be unimpressed.  One weird aftereffect was that several people mentioned feeling a little lightheaded and weird.  I felt the same... like I was a little off-balance.  I wasn't sure whether it was because of the eclipse or the fact that I was up late last night and early this morning, but several others couldn't all have that excuse.  It didn't last long, at any rate. 

Overall, a very fascinating experience!