Eclipse Day!

Hey guys! So, as I'm sure you all know, there was a solar eclipse this past Monday! There hasn't been a full solar eclipse in the United States in nearly 40 years, so the opportunity to see it was one I definitely wasn't gonna pass up.

Of course, looking directly at the sun is never a good idea, even if it is partially covered by the moon. To view the eclipse, you need either special glasses, or this neat apparatus I made out of a shoebox and some tinfoil!

First, I cut two holes in the side of the box--one for viewing, one for covering.

The one for covering I covered in tinfoil. I also put tape up around all the corners to make sure the inside was really dark!

Then, I poked a little hole in the foil with a pin.

And that was it! My eclipse viewer was complete. I brought it outside to test it out, though the eclipse had just begun.

I brought my eye to the viewing hole...

...and lo and behold, it worked! you can see the little chunk taken out of the sun by the moon projected on the inside. 

This was about as extreme as it ever got up in Maine--we weren't in the path of totality, so it didn't get too dark. 

It did get a little dark, though. The light turned sort of bluish, and it even felt a couple degrees cooler!

It's sort of hard to tell in this photo, but the lighting looked really weird. I felt like everything had a filter, or like I had just jumped out of a photograph from the 1970s! 

Seeing the eclipse, even though it was partial in our area, was super cool. The next solar eclipse to have a path over the United States will be in 2024--and the path of totality goes right over Maine! I just CAN'T miss that. I watched live videos online of the eclipse in places where coverage was 100%, and it was incredible! I want to witness that myself. Did you see any of the eclipse? Were you in the path of totality? Did you get special glasses? I'd love to know!
This has been Dani, dabbling in solar events. Over and out!