Today, an incredible spectacle happened in the sky: a solar eclipse.
While the partial solar eclipse was visible globally, only North America had the chance to experience a total solar eclipse.
This happens when the moon moves in fron of the sun, completely blocking its light.
An event like this is a once in a lifetime experience - it was the first solar eclipse that could be tracked from coast to coast in the US since 1918.
What is an Eclipse?
An eclipse happens when one planet moves into the shadow of another planet.
On earth, you can either witness Solar Eclipses or Lunar Eclipses.
Total Solar Eclipses, like the one that happened today, are the most rare because the sun, moon and earth must be in a direct line. As the moon orbits the Earth and then moves between sun and earth, he will block the light at the sun at one point.
Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth. This causes an eclipse of the sun, or solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a shadow onto Earth. A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth. The people who see the total eclipse are in the center of the moonโs shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were night.-Quote from NASA
Today's "Great American Eclipse"
The total solar eclipse that was visible over North America today went from coast to coast.
The event started in Oregon and then moved on through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina in a time span of roughly 90 minutes.
The period of total darkness lasted up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds!
Spectators described it as fascinating, incredible, and almost scary to witness it become dark as night during the middle of the day and you could even see the stars. The temperature also dropped, leaving the spectators with shivers amongst their "oh my god!" exclamations.
The spectacle could be viewed either through specialized Eclipse glasses, or through a makeshift pinhole camera.
Staring directly at the sun could have long-term damaging effect on your eyes - but that didn't stop President Trump from trying it anyway.
Reactions
It's almost as if the busy life of most Americans stopped for a couple of hours today.
Businesses and restaurants were closing around noon, kids were sent to school early, or were even asked not to come at all. It seems like nobody wanted to miss something as spectacular as this.
Many people that witnessed the total solar eclipse today described it as "life changing".
Whenever the point of totality arrived, people started cheering and applauding, trying to take pictures of the phenomenon and shouting in awe or disbelief.
Some have even travelled to witness this spectacle, or organized a helicopter flight above the clouds to make sure even the weather doesn't get in the way.
Some people, like Keeman Wong, have waited for this moment for years.
He had traveled around the world to try and witness a total eclipse for 15 years but something had prevented it, whether it was the weather conditions or travel problems. Today, he was finally able to experience the total eclipse and stated:
โI got here early because I said, โif thereโs an accident on the road, an earthquakeโฆ Iโm going to be there. Itโs worth everything.
(...) For me, the best part was the ending. Iโm not religious but I think itโs something very like when God says, โlet there be lightโ"
Others also stated that watching the Eclipse impacted them deeply, and even brought them to some philosophical thoughts.
Dennis Cassia, a 65-year-old retired firefighter witnessed his first eclipse in high school and has traveled several times throughout his life to watch this phenomenon again and again.
He states:
โYou find out, during a total eclipse, just how in tune with nature you are. Your body tells you something isnโt right. It looks like a sunset, but the sunset is 360 degrees. You get the colors of the sunset, but itโs the whole horizon. Insects behave differently; animals behave differently. Cows go down on their haunches. Then totality hits and youโre immersed in this darkness. Iโve seen people get on their knees and pray. Iโve seen scientists cry. All of a sudden, you realize, โMan, Iโm part of this and I have instincts that I never, ever feel. Iโm part of nature.โ Why do people go around the world to chase eclipses? Itโs the only event thatโs going to leave you totally awestruck.โ
The most used exclamation was "oh my god" and general cheering, but here are a few other statements:
Itโs like someone just dipped the edge of the sun in flames
It just kind of tickled you all over - it was wonderful - and I wish I could do it again
God is amazing
The universe wants to be discovered. Atheists, scientists call that a coincidence. Coincidence? ... To me it just shows that thereโs a creator. Weโre not an accident.
I think about when we landed on the moon. Thereโs something out there bigger than us, higher than us...If we can come together for this, we can come together for a lot more positive things.
It was incredible - It was literally cold and dark. The light was blue.
Watch footage of the spectacle below:
To all American Steemians - who got to witness the total solar eclipse today? What was your experience?
ยฉ Sirwinchester
Great post about the eclipse. Thanks for this :)
I wish I had travelled up north to Oregon. All I got to see was that on one side of the sky, the sky was like a sunset whereas the other side was like a normal day. It was weird to see the sky split like that. Even though it wasn't a total eclipse for me, it was still a cool experience.
shadow from the partial through leaves
I actually did notice this today and it looked so unusual and out of the ordinary to me and I wondered if others noticed.
THX for the great post! I was in the Lincoln, Nebraska area but the clouds prevented us from seeing it during totality, that was a bit disappointing. We did have good views before & after totality & had it occurred just an hour or so later, the clouds cleared out by then.
Very good explanation of the eclipse @sirwinchester. Good job.
I as able to take some great pictures as well because there was a considerable amount of cloud cover, allowing my kids and I to view it with the naked eye!
Check it out...
https://steemit.com/life/@nikethemutt/solar-eclipse-photos-no-glasses-necessary
Nice, i like it the your post, thanks
Hi @sirwinchester
It is very spectacular. I scarcely took any pictures with scarce resources, fearing the damage to my eyes.
Thanks for sharing.
...It's very...very...amazing you are so lucky to see this rare natural phenomenon
Well, You Don't See This Everyday 08/21/2017 Total Solar Eclipse ;) thnx for the post @sirwinchester
great post
well done post ... I so the eclipse from Virgina and it was estimated to be at 85% coverage. It was cool but wish I could have seen it as 100%. That's ok though because the coverage and photos and excellent posts like yours have been great.
This is a great post, I loved reading peoples reactions!
We only had a 70% eclipse where I live. It was still pretty cool though. Sort of felt like it was cloudy even though it was clear.
My son and I drove up from Denver to Wyoming to see it. But slow traffic kept us from reaching Casper in time, so we stopped at Wheatland -- just on the edge of totality. I've shared a photo here on Steemit and on my blog, http://www.wheatdogg.com. Come and have a look!
great moment i hope u fully enjoy
It sure was incredible. Our baby was born yesterday!!! Full story on my blog when we get home! What a day!