Eclipse at Digital Diner

Bix, Monika and Widdakay stare at the Sun

Nature put on quite a show here yesterday.  The eclipse was quite spectacular!  We had special glasses for viewing directly as well as a pinhole camera setup for recording the motion across the sky.  These glasses were specially designed for viewing the eclipse directly as well as the transit of Venus which is coming up on June 5 & 6.  We just have to take very good care of the glasses between now and then to make sure they don't get any scratches or pinholes in them.

Maximal eclipse was around 6:34 local time.

I was even able to get a few pictures through the glasses.  This is approximately maximal coverage from our location.  It was surprising that even with such a significant portion of the sun covered by the moon, that it was still very light outside.

Draw quickly or the image moves before you finish

We were also surprised at how quickly the sun and moon moved across the sky.  We recorded the shape and position of the elipse every 5 minutes.  You had to draw quickly because image was moving as you drew it.

Eclipse shadows danced on the walls

When the eclipse was near its height, we noticed little eclipse projections everywhere.  This pattern danced on the wall as the light filtered through the trees and the blinds on the window.

It eventually turned to a giant PacMan in the sky

In the end, we got a nice plot of the shadow of the moon moving across the sun.