Solar Eclipse 2017
The Most Natural Sunblock
Total Eclipse 8/21/17. People were able to remove their eclipse glasses. This picture was taken with the solar filter, which made normal light impossible to see. Being able to see the outer rays of the sun with a filter shows how bright the sun is, regardless of an eclipse.
On August 21, parts of America were able to see a full total eclipse for the first time since 1979. For a little more than two minutes, the moon blocked all of the sun in places like Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina. Millions of people drove or flew to see the sun be covered in its entirety. For many, the trip was well worth it.
I went to Mount Juliet, Tennessee, about thirty minutes east of Nashville. The eclipse took about three hours from start to finish and the complete covering of the sun lasted for two minutes and twenty- four seconds. The sky was nothing I’ve ever seen before. As the moon covered more of the sun, the lighting became strange. It wasn’t close to being dark, but the lighting was darker than if it was on a normal day. No picture could capture the difference in lighting from when the sun was 80% covered or 0% covered. It was like putting a screen in front of a light source to make it slightly darker, but we still had more than enough light to see.
When the moon had covered about 98% of the sun, people began to remove their solar eclipse glasses. Everything seemed out of sync; seeing that it was almost completely dark at 1:30 in the afternoon was surreal.
Once the sun was covered, it was unbelievable. You could hear the cicadas thinking it was night time, with a choir of their chirps becoming louder. Light was visible with the rays of the sun just slightly going above the surface of the moon. Because of this small amount of light still present, the lighting could be described as if the sun set 30 minutes ago. Also, there was a three hundred sixty-degree sunset pink color surrounding us. Everything about that day was incredible.
As the darkness became consumed by light, I kept hoping it would last longer as it was something I will always remember. Before the eclipse, I was skeptical about how much this eclipse would be worth and my expectations were blown out of the water. The only thing I wish is that it was longer than two and a half minutes.
For people who want a chance to see a solar eclipse, the next one visible in the United States will occur in 2024, passing through places such as Dallas, Texas, Indianapolis, Indiana, Cleveland, Ohio, and Niagara Falls.
adviser • Sep 26, 2017 at 10:08 AM
wow