The Eclipse

It was very cool to experience last week's solar eclipse here at the UCSC campus.

At first, I took pictures of it with my camera.  They weren't very good, but I got pretty excited.  Then I tried projecting it onto the ground, which was basic, but fantastic.  Who knew you could project an eclipse with your fingers!?

But the best viewing was from campus.  As luck would have it, I ran into the Astronomy Club in one of the main plazas.  They had all of their equipment out and ready, including several projectors, filters, and telescopes.  Not only did I get to use their solar eclipse viewers (that is, the paper glasses), I also got to look at the sun through their largest telescope!  It was absolutely incredible to see sunspots and solar flares.  I've never seen that in person.  Never!

Though I was amazed at the display, Lua seemed completely disinterested.  Huh.

We'll try again in 2017.

Start of the eclipse, captured at a shutter speed of 1/8000 of a second.
Sorry about the blurriness-- that's the best that my little guy can do!!

Using a "handmade" projector.  Can you see the eclipses in the lattice effect?

Hanging out with the Astronomy Club on campus

The equipment was available for students, professors, and other random visitors

A simple projection made with boxes, paper, and binoculars

The last few minutes of the eclipse, captured with a camera lens filter