Eclipse Party 2024

 We had an eclipse party with 9 of us! We went to the cemetery to "visit" Marianne's parents who were nice quiet hosts.

Some of the kids are Girl Scouts, so they were doing science things in order to get a badge. For one thing, the temperature dropped 10 degrees at the totality. We had 2 minutes, 49 seconds where we were.

I took a picture every five minutes, but I won't overwhelm you with that many. But, a few... This is the totality.

I sort of got the "diamond ring," but it's not focused well. This is a good place to say that I know these aren't like professional pics, but they are mine. I was there.

Here are a few as it was leaving.

It got dusky, but not really dark. This was the horizon. We could see Jupiter? briefly.

One of the things the kids did was use a colander to project the cresent shapes on a piece of white board.

Then everyone came to Marianne's for dinner. Long day. Very fun. I'm glad I came.

See The Non-Event

Moon - Sun - Moon

 
Everyone has been posting pictures of last night's Super Blood Wolf Moon on Facebook. But I guess that won't stop me from adding my own version. Picture taken at 11:35 last night.



There was sunshine all day, even though it was cold. Started out at -6 degrees, but warmed up to 18 in the afternoon. Sun hung in there, and provided a molten gold sunset.



Just a couple of hours later, that old moon just showed up again, but golden this time.



In other news: I did get my act together. Finished writing a chapter, did errands mostly associated with getting the car ready for a long trip. Did other pre-trip necessities and preparations.

	See 2014 lunar eclipse
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

The Non-Event of the Day

 
I was really torn between two options today. I like science and astronomical events, but I hate jumping on the bandwagon with 30 million other people.

As it turned out, today's partial solar eclipse at my house was no great shakes.



It didn't even get very dark.



I have to say that the partial eclipse in 1994 was a much bigger deal to me. For one thing, there just wasn't very much hype. This was before the internet was a huge thing. I was at grad school, and I knew there was going to be a partial eclipse, but I didn't pay a lot of attention because I expected it to be pretty much like today turned out to be.

Image from NASA, public domain

However, it just so happened that I didn't have classes that day and I took myself for a walk in the woods. That turned out to be momentarily spooky, because I did forget the eclipse was going to happen. It started to get quite dark under the trees- like late dusk. All the rustling of animals ceased and the birds stopped singing. It took me a minute to remember there was going to be a partial eclipse. Just for a bit I think I felt like ancient peoples must have felt before eclipses could be predicted. There happened to be a bench near where I was. I sat down and contemplated the workings of the solar system and the Creator.

That was much more of an event for me than today. Maybe I'll still be around for the next one on April 8, 2024. Actually, that would be sort of numerically significant. I was supposed to be born on April 8, didn't show up till the 24th. And I'll be 24 years (and those extra days) shy of 100.

My big news of the day is that I finished another chapter in Dead Mule Swamp Druggist.

	See Blood Moon
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

0607 - 0822

 
Clearly these are not nearly as good as many I saw on Facebook. I don't know how to get good moon pictures with this camera. But I was awake, so I had to try.

0607



0638



And to counteract the rather sinister-looking natural phenomenon, the sunrise brought yellow light and glowing trees.

0822

if you like this blog, click the +1   or