I’m sitting in a dark hotel room on the eve of my first - and possibly only - total solar eclipse, with my partner and step-son, and I am positively awash with emotions.
I have been waiting for this day for 30 years, since my first partial eclipse in May of 1994. That was an underwhelming experience for many reasons, but not the least of them was that I had nothing and no one to view the eclipse with.
Three decades, two astronomy degrees, 5 years operating a planetarium, and 5 years as a guide at the local observatory later, and I’m fully prepared. Today, I have more viewing glasses than i have fingers, two cameras with filters, I have my family, and I am smack dab in the middle of the path of totality.
And the forecast calls for clear skies.
I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that this is actually happening for me. That everything looks like it’s going to work out.
The only disappointment is that I discovered that Potato World exists - it’s the New Brunswick potato museum (and it’s next door to my hotel) - but it’s closed!
I’m going to skip it. I don’t want to risk buying an counterfeit eclipse glasses and blinding myself 😬
You don’t need glasses during totality, if you happen to be in its path. If you’re not, actully looking at the sun is the least interesting part of a pretty eh event, anyway.
I was camping for the last eclipse. Didn’t make it north enough for totality, but fairly close. Seeing the little wedge of sun filtered and projected hundreds of times through the trees was pretty awesome- and in a way more interesting than looking at directly with the special glasses.
Even if you don’t look up , try to go out and enjoy it.
That’s how I viewed 2017! Went outside on my lunch break to watch the bananas on the sidewalk while everyone around me went about seemingly totally unaware of what was going on right above and below them