Today, an incredible spectacle happened in the sky: a solar eclipse.
While the partial solar eclipse was visible globally, only North America had the chance to experience a total solar eclipse.
This happens when the moon moves in fron of the sun, completely blocking its light.
An event like this is a once in a lifetime experience - it was the first solar eclipse that could be tracked from coast to coast in the US since 1918.
What is an Eclipse?
An eclipse happens when one planet moves into the shadow of another planet.
On earth, you can either witness Solar Eclipses or Lunar Eclipses.
Total Solar Eclipses, like the one that happened today, are the most rare because the sun, moon and earth must be in a direct line. As the moon orbits the Earth and then moves between sun and earth, he will block the light at the sun at one point.
Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth. This causes an eclipse of the sun, or solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a shadow onto Earth. A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth. The people who see the total eclipse are in the center of the moon’s shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were night.-Quote from NASA
Today's "Great American Eclipse"
The total solar eclipse that was visible over North America today went from coast to coast.
The event started in Oregon and then moved on through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina in a time span of roughly 90 minutes.
The period of total darkness lasted up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds!
Spectators described it as fascinating, incredible, and almost scary to witness it become dark as night during the middle of the day and you could even see the stars. The temperature also dropped, leaving the spectators with shivers amongst their "oh my god!" exclamations.
The spectacle could be viewed either through specialized Eclipse glasses, or through a makeshift pinhole camera.
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Reactions
It's almost as if the busy life of most Americans stopped for a couple of hours today.
Businesses and restaurants were closing around noon, kids were sent to school early, or were even asked not to come at all. It seems like nobody wanted to miss something as spectacular as this.
Many people that witnessed the total solar eclipse today described it as "life changing".
Whenever the point of totality arrived, people started cheering and applauding, trying to take pictures of the phenomenon and shouting in awe or disbelief.
Some have even travelled to witness this spectacle, or organized a helicopter flight above the clouds to make sure even the weather doesn't get in the way.
Some people, like Keeman Wong, have waited for this moment for years.
He had traveled around the world to try and witness a total eclipse for 15 years but something had prevented it, whether it was the weather conditions or travel problems. Today, he was finally able to experience the total eclipse and stated:
“I got here early because I said, ‘if there’s an accident on the road, an earthquake… I’m going to be there. It’s worth everything.
(...) For me, the best part was the ending. I’m not religious but I think it’s something very like when God says, ‘let there be light’"
Others also stated that watching the Eclipse impacted them deeply, and even brought them to some philosophical thoughts.
Dennis Cassia, a 65-year-old retired firefighter witnessed his first eclipse in high school and has traveled several times throughout his life to watch this phenomenon again and again.
He states:
“You find out, during a total eclipse, just how in tune with nature you are. Your body tells you something isn’t right. It looks like a sunset, but the sunset is 360 degrees. You get the colors of the sunset, but it’s the whole horizon. Insects behave differently; animals behave differently. Cows go down on their haunches. Then totality hits and you’re immersed in this darkness. I’ve seen people get on their knees and pray. I’ve seen scientists cry. All of a sudden, you realize, ‘Man, I’m part of this and I have instincts that I never, ever feel. I’m part of nature.’ Why do people go around the world to chase eclipses? It’s the only event that’s going to leave you totally awestruck.”
The most used exclamation was "oh my god" and general cheering, but here are a few other statements:
It’s like someone just dipped the edge of the sun in flames
It just kind of tickled you all over - it was wonderful - and I wish I could do it again
God is amazing
The universe wants to be discovered. Atheists, scientists call that a coincidence. Coincidence? ... To me it just shows that there’s a creator. We’re not an accident.
I think about when we landed on the moon. There’s something out there bigger than us, higher than us...If we can come together for this, we can come together for a lot more positive things.
It was incredible - It was literally cold and dark. The light was blue.
Watch footage of the spectacle below:
To all American Steemians - who got to witness the total solar eclipse today? What was your experience?
© Sirwinchester