With eclipse glasses going for about a grand on the black market, I was never going to be able to get hold of a pair, so it soon became apparent I would have to try and see this partial solar eclipse by other means.
Being far too dyspraxic to construct something like a pinhole projector, I went with the most low tech option of all - the humble kitchen collander and a piece of paper.
Off I went to my chosen venue - the parched brown grass of the slope by the castle. I thought it would be kind of fun to project the sun onto the castle walls with my revolutionary optical device.
This I did, creating little crescent suns on the brick wall at the base of the castle, and showing a couple of passing people - there was a little crowd of folk there, most of whom were trying to ruin their eyesight by using sunglasses, or looking through their fingers.
No wonder a lot of people reported by underwhelmed by the experience. And to be fair, I get it. Although we did get quite a pretty light for a few minutes, 10% of the sun is still a heck of a lot of light, and you need full totality to have a truly magical experience.
But as a collective piece of citizen science, it was still fun!
Si
All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.08.26
The colander made a pretty pattern though. Now it is all over, a natural wonder that only happens now and then.
ReplyDeleteAha, I wondered how that was supposed to work. It's a really cool way to view an eclipse. We had glasses because my organised husband sent off for some a while ago - although our town hall sent our a message saying the local pharmacie had glasses available. We had nearly 99% coverage here, the light went very gloomy and dull yet most of the time the sun was still shining on the valley - a very odd thing to see! The sun kept dipping below the trees so we had to move further up the garden to the highest point to see, which lasted until the peak coverage. Then we went indoors (had to put the lights on it was so dark) and watched it in Spain on the telly - now that would have been something to witness! And then it all got light again for about half an hour before real dusk started. I did hear some birds still singing during the eerie twilight, maybe they were saying goodnight to each other.
ReplyDeleteIt worked out well. What an evening that was. Take care.
ReplyDelete