When The Sun Is Entirely Hidden
Proving that, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,“ and especially with camera tech, read what happened when an observer was trying to view the eclipse in 1860 and the camera obscura was NOT cooperating!
The screenshot above is from the from the United States Coast Survey and via a post from Medium Bicycles. The full account begins on p. 275 with multiple observers, including from the Washington Territory, “The outline of Mount Rainier was more distinct before the eclipse than it had been at any time during the preceding three weeks.”
Some observations are more poetic than others and one observer didn’t see anything, “I was prevented from observing any of the astronomical phenomena during the totality.”
Another was overwhelmed:
The progress of the moon’s passage across the sun’s disc was beautiful in the extreme, and at the period of totality there was the most gorgeous sight I ever witnessed.
If you’re planning on shooting the eclipse and adding your pithy commentary to the record, see this guide from Alpha Universe and these other useful links:
- Les and Mary Anderson’s photo gallery of eclipse photography.
- Mr. Eclipse’s Guide to Eclipse Photography.
- The Great American Eclipse website
- Astronomy magazine’s What to Bring to the Eclipse Guide
Another option is to let the pros shoot it, while you take it all in. Again, from 1860….
Growing darker all the time.
Growing still darker.
Getting dark.
Growing darker….
Had to light the lantern.
Quite light.
Also, this ABC report from 1979, when the last total solar eclipse occurred.
