Solar Eclipse

The Solar Eclipse of 2017

Salt Lake City was only a few hours from the path of totality, so we made the trek to Idaho to be right in the middle of totality.  We camped for a few nights in Henry's Lake (close to West Yellowstone), and then watched the eclipse from Rexburg, Idaho. We enjoyed the weekend, camping and exploring Idaho with friends - the Staleys, Korineks, Thompsons.

  

 

 

SLC was at about 93% coverage for the eclipse, and I wondered why it was such a big deal to go to the path of totality (100% coverage).  Wouldn't I get to see pretty much everything from SLC?  The answer is NO.  Totality is something pretty spectacular.  I do not think these pictures do it justice, but may give you a flavor of what we saw.

This is the area where we decided to watch.
It was BLM land in an area called Menan Buttes.
Not far from Idaho Falls.

While we waited for the eclipse to start, we played Bocce ball.

Also while we waited, we did some exercises with the kids
showing them how the tiny little moon (the wiffle ball)
could cover the entire sun (the big pink ball).
They measured the diameter of each, and the distance between them
to compare to the actual size and distance of the sun and moon.
If we took all these kids out of their first day of school,
we had to make it educational, right?

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The eclipse is starting.

We all put on our glasses and occasionally glanced upwards to see a bite being taken out of the sun by the moon. If you did not know it was happening and weren't looking directly at the sun with your glasses,  you would probably not know an eclipse was happening.  The sun still felt intense.  The light was still bright.

This picture was taken at about 75% coverage.
 Michelle led all the kids in a meditation. (HA!)
It felt a little bit cooler, maybe.
Still, I do not think you would not know it was happening
if you were not looking for it.

This photo was at about 90-95% coverage.
The sky was noticeably darker.
The temperature was noticeably cooler.
You could faintly hear crickets starting to come out.
Shadows looked strange, not crisp.

This is all we would have seen if we stayed in SLC.  It was strange, for sure.  It felt like a dark storm cloud was in front of the sun, but nothing like what we saw and felt next.  As totality happened, the sky suddenly darkened.  The horizon lit up and created a 360 degree sunset.  Temperatures dropped considerably.  You could not feel the warmth of the sun on your skin at all.

At this time, you can safely take off your eclipse glasses and
see something that looks like the image below.
Around it in the sky, you see stars and planets.

Our eyes could see this so clearly, but our cameras could not capture it.
(this is a stock photo I found online)

The most awesome part was watching the moon go from 99 to 100% coverage - and then from 100 to 99%. As this happens, you can see the little slivers of light peeking out from valleys and peaks on the moon's surface.  In those moment in and out of totality, the light and shadows on the ground change dramatically.  It was like a light switch turned off the sun, and then as soon as even a sliver of the sun was back, the light switch was turned back on.  This entrance and exit into totality was dramatic.  It created a very surreal feeling for those of us standing on the earth. If we were not prepared for what we would be seeing, we would be wondering if the world was somehow coming to an end or whether the sun would ever appear again.  I can only imagine what our ancestors must have experienced when they were in the path of totality without science being able to prepare and predict them!

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 The drive home from Rexburg should only take about 3.5 hours, but ended up MUCH longer with all the traffic.  It was a great weekend with friends and such a cool experience for those 2 hours, and especially for those 2.5 minutes of totality.