Or, "What the hell is so special about an eclipse, anyway?"
It is impossible to describe
a total eclipse of the sun. It is an event
so awesome, so overwhelming, that people will endure hardship and discomfort
just to observe it. We are not astronomers; we just go for the
experience. No photograph can convey the experience.
We met one astronomer who had once spent hours setting up and calibrating his
camera-telescope, and then forgot to take pictures because he was
so overwhelmed by the experience.
"But I saw an eclipse at [someplace] in [sometime],
and I still don't get it."
I hear this a lot. The answer is almost always "no, you didn't."
It usually turns out to have been a partial eclipse,
or an annular eclipse, or
even a lunar eclipse.
When we were in South Africa, I met a man who swore
he saw the 1991 total eclipse
from the top of Haleakela in Maui. But
Haleakela was not in the path of totality.
On the same trip I met a woman who saw the total eclipse of 1999 in
Paris, which, again, was not in the path.
People read about a total eclipse, and they see an event, but they usually
don't know enough to realize that the event they saw was not totality.
Seeing a total eclipse is completely different from seeing a 99% partial
eclipse. It's like an orgasm: if you think that you've probably had one, then
you haven't.
Eclipse Effects:
The Crescent Effect
This effect is observable early in the eclipse, when the sun is 50% occluded,
more or less.
People can see this even outside the path of totality.
Look down at the dappled shadows under a tree.
Where you would normally see spots of light, you will see a multitude of
crescents; the image of the sun projected through the gaps between the leaves.
[Photo coming as soon as I get a scanner.]
Heightened Visual Acuity
This is a very eerie effect.
As the eclipse progresses towards totality,
more of the sun is covered, so
the source of
sunlight grows much smaller than usual.
This change makes shadows sharper and darker.
Shadows that are normally grey and fuzzy become black and razor-edged.
Look at your own shadow and see the shadows of the individual hairs on
your head!
Every object seems more sharply focused.
The effect is as if your visual acuity has been cranked up from 10 to 11.
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| 20% Totality |
98% Totality |
These two pictures were taken in Bolivia at elevation 14,000 feet.
The picture on
the left was taken soon after
first contact, when only about 20 per-cent of the sun was covered.
The picture on the right was taken very shortly before totality.
Wall of Darkness
If you can watch the eclipse from a good vantage point, you can
actually see the moon's shadow racing across the world toward you.
If there are some clouds, you can still get the effect of an onrushing
wall of darkness.
Even though you, intelligent biped, know what is happening, the effect
produces a jolt of adrenaline.
It is a fearful sight.
Shadow Bands
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| Shadow bands in a sketch from 1870 |
This effect is rare and fleeting.
In the few seconds before totality, flat surfaces will sometimes show
wavering bands of light that look like the rippling light on the bottom
of a swimming pool.
This coupled with the other lighting effects adds to the surreal effect.
In Bolivia, just as the sun was being blotted out, someone shouted that there
were shadow bands.
There they were, snaking across the salt flat beneath my feet.
I became dizzy from the surreal lighting and the adrenaline.
Meteorological Effects
When the sun is covered, the local weather can change rapidly and dramatically.
On the Bolivian Altiplano,
the temperature dropped from 60 degrees (Fahrenheit) to 40 degrees
in a period of about 10 minutes. (This effect was exacerbated by the
altitude, 14,000 feet, and the dryness.)
In Baja, clouds formed right around the sun,
fortunately not occluding it.
Sometimes clouds will clear, other times clouds will form.
Totality
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This picture was taken in the middle of
an otherwise bright, sunny day |
This is the most astonishing part.
Seeing the sun blotted out is a powerful emotional experience.
We have friends who were listening to a radio broadcast from Baja
in '91. They heard all those people shouting, moaning, and weeping.
Their response was that they had to go see for themselves this
phenomenon that could cause this response. (We met them in Bolivia and
traveled again with them to Aruba.)
Diamond Rings and Bailey's Beads
As the moon covers the sun, in the final seconds a last ray of sunlight
is often visible, producing a "diamond ring" effect.
The diamond ring is also often visible at the end of totality.
Bailey's Beads are like many miniature diamonds, and is caused by the sun's
rays slipping down several canyons on the moon's surface.
The Corona
A surprisingly small halo of pure silver-white light, achingly beautiful.
In the darkness stars appear around it. The landscape takes on a strange
silvery darkness.
Sometimes great prominences extend the silver light;
every eclipse looks different.
Also, in Turkey we saw three bright red solar prominences
that looked like rubies in the silver diadem.
The 360-degree Sunset
In the darkness of totality, there is often a sunset along the entire
horizon. This was particularly pronounced and beautiful at Baja,
Bolivia, and Aruba.
Bird Confusion
Birds and other wildlife decide that it is night and quickly do their
dusk activities.
The response of local people
Every culture seems to respond differently.
Many cultures keep women indoors or even evacuate them from the
area of totality. In India, Bolivia, and Mexico, an eclipse is
believed to harm a woman's fertility or to cause birth defects.
In Mexico, the eclipse was a huge party, with fireworks and
music. In Bolivia, a few Indians watched the developing eclipse with us,
but at totality they kneeled together and prayed,
their eyes averted earthward.
At Rajasthan, local villagers were wildly enthusiastic, pointing at flocks
of birds and other phenomena, laughing and gesticulating.
Our Holiday Karma
This is not a generic eclipse effect, but a fortuitous happenstance for us.
Most of our eclipses have coincided with significant local holidays.
In Bolivia, the Day of the Dead happened just before the eclipse, so we
participated in this two-day holiday in some of the remotest villages of the
Bolivian Altiplano.
In India, Divali (the Festival of Lights) is much like our own
Christmas and is celebrated with lights, song, and firecrackers.
We enjoyed Divali in a small town in a relatively
untouristed part of Rajasthan.
In the Caribbean, we experienced Carnival in Trinidad, and then flew to
Aruba to see the eclipse.
Good Links
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NASA's
Eclipse Page is one of the best
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Fred Espenak, known as Mister Eclipse, has a personal site at
www.mreclipse.com.
This is a great resource for eclipse photography and general
eclipse information.
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Eclipse Chasers
has a nice all-purpose page.
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Brian Brewer, author of "Eclipse", has site called
Earth View Network.
It is, unfortunately, very out of date.
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The Exploratorium has a
Solar Eclipse page but it seems to be somewhat
out of date.
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The "busiest eclipse chaser in Canada" has a quirky but enjoyable site at
Eclipse Guy.
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