Solar Eclipse
The big news of the day was the solar eclipse that was visible in a line across the U.S. Unfortunately, I was well south of the areas of 100% “totality” (total coverage of the sun by the moon). According to a map published by NASA, I was in the 75% totality band:
Image 1. NASA Map of the Solar Eclipse Path, 100% Totality.
What that meant from the practical side of things is we couldn’t see anything. The sun just looked like the regular ol’ sun. From what I understand though, about 100-ish miles north, they had a visible partial eclipse. Fortunately, this is the Internet Age, and photos and videos are everywhere already. Since I didn’t get any personal experience with this eclipse, I’ll post a few of my favorites from today (with credit noted in the caption).
Image 2. NASA Footage of the Total Solar Eclipse in Nebraska
Image 3. NASA Image of the Partial Eclipse Over New York City’s Empire State Building.
Image 4. NASA Time Lapse Photography of the Eclipse.
Image 5. Crescent Shadow Effect During the Eclipse, Filmed by Twitter User Pete Buttigieg.
Most of these awesome images/videos were from NASA, who really did a great job covering and providing public visuals for everyone through their website (NASA.gov) and in coordination with the Weather Channel. There was also another video getting widely circulated via Twitter that showed the eclipse from a plane. I’ve included the video below, but it’s actually been sort of debunked already. The video was not from this eclipse, but from one in 2015.
Image 6. Eclipse Filmed from a Plane, 85X Normal Speed. Purported by many to be from this eclipse, but was actually from 2015. Unknown original source.
Just for hilarity’s sake, I’ll include this too. It was definitely getting wide circulation on social media – Trump staring directly at the eclipse with no protective wear. Bonus points to the staffer who apparently yelled “don’t look” to protect him from himself. Kids, don’t try this at home.
Image 7. President Trump Looking at the Eclipse, from ABC News.