Here in Southern California we got only a partial total eclipse, but the good news is that we actually got to see it. The skies were clear as a bell. So behold our mighty sun being eaten by our mere moon. But it would soon have its revenge.
Lunchtime Photo
Did the two, furry masters of the house notice?
Am I alone in that I prefer the half-light of a partial eclipse to the full light of a cloudless day?
I found it (34% totality) slightly eerie. Perhaps it was just the unfamiliarity.
I thought it was relaxing and unaggressive. The whites were paler and the blues were brighter.
But I've never gotten on well with sunlight.
We traveled to northwest Ohio in search of totality. One thing I noticed that was different this time vs. 2017: In 2017, the sky where we were in Tennessee was perfectly clear, and during totality, the moon was the blackest of blacks, as if it were a hole in the sky that stretched to infinity. This time, there were some wispy high clouds, and although we had no trouble seeing the corona and the bright prominence on the lower limb that everyone was talking about, as well as Venus and Jupiter, there was enough light scattered from the clouds that the moon wasn't quite black.
Traffic this time was much better, too. No traffic at all on the way up (a 2-1/2 hour drive), and only a few minor delays on the way home.
Very similar to my experience, seeing totality through clear skies in Kentucky in 2017 vs. thin high clouds in northern New York -- our own front yard! -- this time. However, the corona for us this time was nowhere near as spectacular. Nonetheless, the total eclipse newbies in our group (three age 60+, one age 30+) were blown away.
From Rangely Maine with crystal clear skies and my first experience with totality, it was awe inspiring during those 2.5 minutes. When totality hits it is sudden, magical, and completely different from what came before those 2.5 minutes and what happens afterward. Hard to describe unless you’ve been there. I’m still shaking my head
So true. In the words of Annie Dillard's famous essay: "Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him, or as flying in an airplane does to falling out of an airplane. Although the one experience precedes the other, it in no way prepares you for it."
Glad to hear that you got clear skies.
Nice sunspots!
First up: "partial total eclipse"? Not a thing.
That said, very nice photos.
Wait a few billion years and the sun will get its revenge and vaporize the Moon -- and the Earth, too, as the sun becomes a Red Giant.