Look Up

The sun definitely looked different that day — it almost seemed both — brighter and dimmer! According to NASA, the sun gets about 10% dimmer during an annular eclipse. When I looked about the parking lot of the park where I was observing, it was hard to notice it was dimmer. During this annular eclipse there was a sun halo that caught a few colors of the spectrum so at times it seemed brighter. Nevertheless our sun was just too overpowering for the moon that was a little further away than normal, in relation to its orbit.

I was able to catch the peak of the total eclipse on video without any solar screens so I anticipated the same for the annular but the effect wasn’t as revealing as during a total eclipse. I finally used the solar glasses for recording and was able to catch the beautiful and rarely seen crescent sun. I enjoyed the rest of the eclipse through solar glasses over the lens of my camcorder.

The rest of the day was like any other as the sun shined brightly in New Mexico.

As a timeless event, I couldn’t help but think of some ancient societies that might not have possessed the knowledge of eclipses and wonder how they endured such events. Did many loose or impair their vision because they kept looking at the sun? It’s most likely not since it doesn’t happen instantaneously it does take several hours, like four to six hours.

One should never look directly at the sun without some sort of protection but it’s especially important during an eclipse. Permanent eye damage can happen while watching an eclipse if you don’t protect your eyes. Some might say that it’s an old wives’ tale, but it’s not. Of course if you stare at the sun for that long without an eclipse, you still take the chance of burning your retinas. If you stare at the sun during an eclipse can cause “eclipse blindness” or retinal burns, otherwise known as solar retinopathy.

I also recommend using welder googles as another option but don’t use the lens that come with them. They must be switched to something that is gauged at 14 or higher, according to PreventBlindness.org. Previously I wrote that you could use 12 or higher and now I must retract it and go with the recommendation of 14 or higher.

Besides having the pleasure of visiting a different state, the trip to see the annular eclipse was worth it. Again, we rarely get to see that crescent sun and think it to be a treat, regardless of the eclipse.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and our planet causing it to block the sun either partially or completely. A solar eclipse can only happen during the new moon phase. In order for an annular eclipse to occur the moon must be in its point in the orbit when it’s the furthest away from the Earth. This is called the apogee and the moon could be up to 252,000 miles away.

Look Up appears in the weekend edition. If you have any astronomical questions or facts you’d like to share email news@smdailyjournal.com with the subject line “Look Up.”