So, who saw the eclipse yesterday?
I knew the cloud cover was going to probably poo poo the celestial event for me and I didn't really care one way or the other. Honestly, I was just glad the news was focusing on something other than our world going to Hell in a flaming hand basket for a few hours.
The Mr was kind enough to gleefully make me a card stock viewer...
You know so that I didn't burn out my retinas attempting to see anything if curiosity got the better of me. (It wouldn't because seeing it live and ruining my vision isn't on my to-do list.) I was more hoping that he could see it because he was so excited about it. I would've been in kindergarten when the last one happened but nothing sticks with me so if we did a similar project, it didn't implant in the memory bank. The Mr has very vivid memories of it so I thought I'd humor him and try to watch it through his paper contraption.
I was able to see it in the reflection of my windshield and I never looked directly at it but through the phone enough to make sure it was focused and look away. This was as eclipsed as it got:
Womp, womp.
Oh well. It was something fun to break up the day. The Mr called me from work to tell me about his experience which I'm sure he'll relay in the comments.
Did you get to see the eclipse? Did you make any old school contraptions to view it?
====================
Like this post? Don't miss another one...subscribe via email or RSS feed. (Or you can follow me on Facebook )
I had high hopes for my little "eclipse viewer" but local weather had other plans. I was at work and a co-worker asked me if I was going out to see the eclipse when the time came. I said yes and showed him my paper viewer and he proceeded to take out a small welding mask he brought to work with him. In the back of my mind I thought, well I'd better make sure I can find him when the time comes...
ReplyDeleteSure enough, thanks to the weather being cloudy my paper viewer just wasn't getting enough direct light to work, as you can see in the picture above. Actually I was impressed by the Mrs. Picture because I couldn't even get mine to look THAT good. So I invoked plan B and looked for my co-worker who was just walking out with his welding mask.
Sure enough, that welding mask was so dark that you could see the eclipse perfectly without any eye damage. I was able to look through it several times during the height of the event and he was kind enough to share it with other people who were coming up to us and asking if they could look. It was a shame so many of us were unable to get eclipse glasses. I even actively tried buying some 3 weeks or more ago and even then they were sold out. So I'm thankful I got the chance to see it but I do wish I could have shared that moment with the Mrs. It was pretty cool and I love stuff like that. I'm also glad that a lot of the people at my work got to experience it with that welding mask because I know it's something they'll remember well. So in 2024 I'm going to be ready with my own welding mask!
It was pretty cloudy here too so my plans for paper plate viewing didn't pan out. What am I going to do with all those plates now? The school managed to get some eclipse glasses, I assume they are the approved ones. I hope. And I borrowed a pair and stepped outside to check it out. I only had a short time between classes but it was at maximum so that was pretty cool. My son's class spent time outside too and he was really excited by it. They had glasses, but I kind of wish they had done the paper thing - I have similar memories of doing that to your Mr's.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I was with the Mr. on this one. For some reason I was really excited to know it was happening, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to see much with the clouds. I did see weird shadows on the deck and made sure I was outside at the time it was planned and it did burst through the clouds a bit. In Carbondale in southern IL at the college is where the main event took place that had the longest lasting viewing which was 2 min, 38 secs, and it looked like it was pitch black out. People were either in the camp of being a nerd (like moi), or meh, didn't really matter either way. We had one when I was a kid and I remember being at school for it, but this one was kind of cool I thought, and a big reason why is with all the crap that's happened in the past few weeks in this country, it was nice to see people coming together for something outside of all the negative, to just focus on some old fashion science. See, total nerd. LOL!
ReplyDelete