We were about as close to a total eclipse as we could be without being in the swath of a total eclipse. The next picture shows the maps of the US and TN...the little red dots show where we are located.
We didn't get glasses to view the eclipse so I came up with ways to view by way of pin dot shadows. Note that the above maps have holes cut out in the middle of them. So we either held them and let the sun shine through or mounted them on a tripod when we got tired of holding them!
It was suggested at the site where I downloaded the maps that you hold the map and get a picture of yourself in shadow and the map showing the eclipse. So here is Woody holding the map of TN at the beginning of the eclipse. And the next shows my shadow and the set up that I finally came up with so we didn't have to stand and hold the maps.
The pinholes really did work. You could see the hole take on the shape of the sun as the moon passed in front of it. The next picture shows one of the pictures of the map when the eclipse was about half-way. It wasn't the easiest to get good sharp pictures of the map shadow. But I did get a few.
I guess my favorite phenomina was what happened to the shadows coming down through the trees. I read last night that the leaves would act like pinholes...and did they ever! Really strange...they almost looked 3-D. I got several pictures of the shadows through the trees. I will share one that I took out in the road in front of our house. We have plenty of trees to act like a pinhole camera! The place that I chose to set up the camera never lost the sun shining on it...I just had to move a bit as the shadows started moving towards the camera and the paper on the ground.
Besides shadows other observations that happened right at the 99% eclipse for us: the street light came on and the temperature dropped. And, inside the house the rooms became very dark. I needed to turn on the light at 1:30pm to see my way through the dining room. I did take a picture from the kitchen through the door into the dining room and beyond into the living room...but it is so dark that it isn't much of a picture...more of a memory for me when I look back on the pictures that I took this day!
It never got totally dark...but the cicadas started to chirp and there was an eerie darkness for 1:30 in the afternoon! When I first took a picture of the temperature, it showed that it was 86 and not long after 1:30 I walked back inside and checked and it had dropped to below 80 and not long after the end of the eclipse it was back up to the upper 80's. The street light didn't stay on very long...I'm just glad that I looked up when I did so I was able to capture it with the camera. The last picture is at the end of the eclipse and the pin dot is once again totally round. I really did have fun capturing the eclipse without looking at it...just experienced it through shadows.
Nathan and Kathy and family were in Kentucky for one of the eclipse watching "festivals." They got home a little while ago. And the chilcren that I have seen so far were really impressed. They did have the glasses and got to experience it as a total eclipse. Isaac also was quite impressed with a group of clowns that he met during the festivities! He came in to see me in clown face. He told me all about the eclipse...but also told me all the names of the clowns!
It never got totally dark...but the cicadas started to chirp and there was an eerie darkness for 1:30 in the afternoon! When I first took a picture of the temperature, it showed that it was 86 and not long after 1:30 I walked back inside and checked and it had dropped to below 80 and not long after the end of the eclipse it was back up to the upper 80's. The street light didn't stay on very long...I'm just glad that I looked up when I did so I was able to capture it with the camera. The last picture is at the end of the eclipse and the pin dot is once again totally round. I really did have fun capturing the eclipse without looking at it...just experienced it through shadows.
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