Eclipse

by **Reb** Wed 23 Aug 2017 - 11:36

Linda and I had planned to go to Western University to catch the event they were having for the eclipse but we decided to just stay home and make our own viewing instrument. We used a monocular fastened into cardboard. The day was sunny and mostly clear here so it made for good viewing. We set the monocular up on planks leaning against a crate so we wouldn't have to hold it steady. Here are some pics we took.

Eclipse Imag0410

I only took pics at or around the peak of the eclipse. My favourite part was actually near the end (we missed the beginning) when the moon was only taking a small bite out of the sun.

by **Hobb** Thu 24 Aug 2017 - 13:46

Pretty good photos. Your monocular gave a bigger image than my magnifying glass. I snuck some glimpses at the eclipse using cheap welding glasses and enjoyed seeing the Sun go through Moon-like phases over those few minutes. The Sun as a crescent (as you captured in your picture) was cool.

Seeing a completely clear sky darken did give a taste of celestial weirdness. Seeing totality is now the goal.

Here is an article on eclipse-chasers describing their totality experiences:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/10/16114762/total-solar-eclipse-chasers-2017

I was completely unprepared for the vision I saw in the sky, and for how intense the feeling was of all of a sudden being lifted in my consciousness off the globe, off this two-dimensional life I was living. It opened up a three-dimensionality that I was not prepared for.

It's almost is like a bit of a dreadful feeling. It's like, "Whoa, wait a minute. What's happening to my planet?"

It's just not within our human experience. The rules of nature are turned upside down. How much alien stimulation can the mind process in just a little over two minutes?“

You experience the music of the spheres, as Kepler called them, the mechanics of the solar system in action. These events that are taking place, that in no way can we affect or stop. It gives us a sense of how tiny we are and yet how we're connected to the whole system. All this happens all at once.

Daylight suddenly changes to an eerie twilight in just a handful of seconds, and that's dramatic enough. Then it tends to get quiet. The bright sun that was there just moments ago has vanished. It's replaced by this black orb of the moon.This is like looking upon the eye of God.” My binoculars hung around my neck and I just stood there staring up at the hole in the sky. ... When it was over, I just stood there unable to move until somebody finally shook me back into reality.

by **Reb** Fri 25 Aug 2017 - 12:03

I took a glimpse up at the eclipse just for a split second. In that split second I saw the eclipse and it also felt like a laser hit me in the eye. It left a retinal after image for maybe 10 mins. I was shocked how quickly it affected my eye. For future eclipses I will use eye protection.

by **Hobb** Fri 25 Aug 2017 - 14:48

Considering you have had lasers shot in your eye already, you would know what that felt like.

I listened to the story of a guy who looked for only 20 seconds at an eclipse in the 1960s and had 70% vision loss. Every time he went to an optometrist they said, "So, you must have looked at an eclipse once," because it leaves characteristic damage.

by **Reb** Mon 28 Aug 2017 - 11:29

Having a laser repeatedly blasted on a retinal nerve while your eyes is pryed open was an experience. The oddest thing about that surgery was the vision recovery afterwards. Immediately following the repair I was completely blind in that eye. Slowly vision returned but through a very dark purple colour. The first things I saw with that eye were just bright lights that looked deep purple. Slowly more and more detail would emerge but deeply purple. It took a few hours (I believe) for the vision to return to normal.

With the eclipse the second I saw it with my naked eye I could immediately tell it was burning my retina. Immediately following that sensation I had mixed feelings. I was a bit scared that I may have damaged my retina even more and at the same time I was excited because seeing the eclipse that way was awesome. I could only imagine what the feeling must be like to see a total eclipse.

The very brief burn to the retina from looking at a 75-80% eclipse just for a split second, really showed me how powerful the sun is. Even at 80% obscured it can burn your retina within seconds at a distance of 149.6 million kms.

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