For months now, America has been gearing up for the solar eclipse, and we planned to take part in the festivities. While in Australia, we lined up a house right along the path of totality using airbnb.com. We only booked a month in advance and were truly blessed to find a whole-house rental for such a reasonable price with 3 bedrooms, capable of sleeping 6 people. My parents let me know from the beginning that they wanted to come with us (just to spend time with us, not really interested in it themselves). But, a week before the event, we convinced Jonathan’s parents to join us as well (I think they were interested in seeing us more as well, and maybe curious as to what was so interesting as to call us from our adventures).
So on Sunday, we set out early, trying to avoid the predicted traffic. The road was surprisingly clear and we enjoyed a leisurely drive, including a picnic, as we went to Marshall, MO. We were a bit apprehensive about our rental, as we would be the first renters via Airbnb, and the place was soo cheap (comparatively for eclipse locations). We hoped there wasn’t anything terribly wrong with it or a scam. But, it turned out fine! It was an old 1900s home in the country that had been remodeled very cutely. Now, we just hoped the weather would cooperate…
Monday dawned with increasing clouds, which didn’t bode well. We knew we were in an area of frequent to infrequent interference of clouds, that the meteorologists were having trouble predicting. Jonathan kept a close eye on the radar, and we thought we were going to be just on the edge. However, when the first contact rolled around, there were still tons of clouds. We did see one clear spot, so we thought it would be fun to hop in (two) vehicles and do a quick test run. After about 20 minutes, we realized this was taking a lot longer than expected to get to the edge of the clouds and so we had better find where we wanted to be for the totality. So, we kept heading south and west to the edge of the clouds, joining the masses chasing the sun for a glimpse of the eclipse. Jonathan and I kept in touch using our walkie-talkies.
Eventually, we wound up at the edge of a gravel road, next to I-70 and the town of Sweet Springs. The sun was still in clouds! But, after some debate, we decided to give it 5 minutes before moving on, to see if it would clear. Sure enough, the clouds moved just enough, and we could see the thumbnail shape of the sun through our solar glasses! It really was pretty cool. We only had about 15 minutes until totality. Jonathan and I quickly grabbed a sheet of paper so that we could show the aperture effect of the eclipse. Then, we watched the sky slowly darken.
The image on the left was taken at 1:07pm, the one on the right at 1:11pm.
While only barely noticeable to our eyes, the earth and animals were noticing. The day insects quieted and the night insects started up. The confused birds started for perches. The air was distinctly cooler, and the wind was fitful and then stopped completely. Jonathan cued the music from 2001 Space Odyssey intro, and as the thumbnail disappeared, the world was cast into twilight. I don’t think any of us (except maybe Jonathan) was prepared for the awesomeness of the corona during the eclipse. It was just amazing. Beautiful. Awe-inspiring. The moon was a black circle in the sky surrounded by fiery flares from the sun.
And, then, all too soon, it was over. The sun was peaking past the moon again and nearly blinding us. We watched it a few minutes longer than decided to head back. Our necks were hurting from staring up into the sky. However, we could definitely see why it would be so upsetting to cultures who didn’t expect it. What started as “oh yeah, I will go along for the ride” for our families turned into one of the most amazing natural experiences we have ever seen.
FUN FACT: The moon’s shadow shot across the US from coast to coast in 90 minutes. Be sure to experience the next one in 7 years!
Jonathan's Version
One of the major reasons we decided to return to the USA during August was to view the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.
Now, I can hear the skeptics already. No, you don’t need to be an astronomy/space nut to appreciate it. All that work for 2 minutes? (Hell yes! Don’t be an eclipse hater. Total eclipses were happening long before humans, and will likely continue long after we are gone. What has the eclipse ever done to you?)
I figured that it would be a worthwhile experience. I already have a good grasp on the distances, sizes, and physics involved. Seeing the eclipse only confirms just how small this planet is.
We were able to rent (by serendipity) a house on the line of totality in central Missouri. Amazingly, it was reasonably priced. Advanced forecasts gave a 40-60% chance of cloud cover with frequent interference.
The day of, I watched the real time satellite composite like a hawk (isn’t science awesome?). About the time of first contact, we started driving. About 35 miles south and west put us out of the cloud cover. With about 20 minutes to spare, we found a spot just off I-70 to watch totality fall.
It is hard to describe the event. It has powerful emotional components, as well as an oddly life-affirming quality. The sun, an nearly omnipresent, and constant part of our daily lives, is extinguished, in a rapid, bizarre, and completely unnatural-feeling way. Billions of years of evolutionary cues are upended, the world fades to black, not from the eastern horizon, but from the center of the sky. Looking up through shade lenses, the disk of the sun, normally just a bright point of light, is a massive orb, its light being slowly consumed by the darkness of the moon's night side. Instead of fading to the west, the sunlight is drained from the world, colors change, despite its high position in the sky, the sun can longer illuminate or heat as it once did. The sun becomes as dim as it is on Mars, then Jupiter, and finally Pluto.
And then, within a few seconds, the door to the heavens slams shut. Ripping the shade glasses from my face, I found a disk of complete and absolute darkness. Surrounding it is a wispy touch of light, streaming from hot spots on the sun's surface. These delicate looking tendrils are million-mile-long blasts of streaming superheated plasma. The sun's corona is stunning. Only visible during total eclipses, even NASA, with all its spacecraft, has scientists chasing this event, just to get measurements of its size and temperature. At over 1 million degrees, the corona is violently expelled from the nuclear furnace in the heart of our sun. A well-aimed X-class Coronal Mass Ejection could send half our planet back to the middles ages for days at a time. I feel suddenly naked and impotent in the face of tremendous forces which shape our solar system and the milky way galaxy.
Here is a photo from NASA of the second before totality. You can faintly see the corona.
In the sky, stars appear and Mercury outshines them all; making its lazy path around the sun. The horizons all around are an impossible mix of orange, purple, and deep shadow. The air has cooled so rapidly that I instinctively think a storm much be approaching. Everything feels slightly wrong. The sun cannot be setting in all directions at once, cars passing on I-70 have to turn on their lights or risk crashing, birds are roosting in the nearest tree, treefrogs and crickets start their chorus.
For the first and possibly last time in my life, I am able to stare directly at the sun. The scale is overwhelming; the size and speed at which these celestial orbs must be moving is difficult to comprehend. The 70-mile-wide shadow moving at nearly 1 mile per second, as it sweeps across the earth's surface. Never lingering as the simultaneity of Terra and Luna’s orbital planes is exhausted.
Here is another close up of 100% totality. The ethereal tendrils of the corona appeared this way to the naked eye.
Impossible as it may seem, 2 minutes stretches longer while simultaneously being achingly short. And then as if a spell is broken, the earth begins its inexorable eastward rotation once more. A blinding ray of light breaks free of the moon, and the shadow continues its sweep to the east. The light is too strong, and I can no longer bear to look at the sun with naked eyes. Totality is over, and as if refilling the Light drained before, Normality returns.
For those curious, here is what the eclipse looks like in 4K, close-up: https://petapixel.com/2017/09/02/total-solar-eclipse-looks-like-4k-real-time-close/
It was a wonderful time!! I'm so glad we got to spend it together!
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