I’m excited to be able to see the Solar Eclipse today. We traveled to be in the path of the totality for the last one in 2017, which was quite an amazing experience. We drove down and found an open park to watch from. We ordered eclipse glasses but they didn’t arrive in time* but luckily someone there had an extra pair and let us use them. It was fascinating to see the middle of the day turn into twilight.
*Probably a good thing actually; I realized later that my source may not have been good. DON’T BUY ECLIPSE GLASSES FROM NON-REPUTABLE SOURCES unless you really want to burn your eyes. Find a list of good sources here: https://eclipse2024.org/eclipse-glasses/AAS-approved-vendors.html
It was also fascinating to use alternate methods to see the eclipse. We tried the pinhole-box but got a better view of the crescent shadow effect by looking at shadows cast by the trees.
This time we’re traveling a little longer and staying with relatives to avoid the return-trip traffic. I also ordered glasses months ago to make sure we got good ones in sufficient quantities for everyone and had them on hand. I’m excited to experience this with my kids and plan on telling them plenty about how eclipses work before we get there so they can know what’s going on already and just enjoy the experience.
wait a sec, this isn’t related to writing at all… Quick throw in something!
I’m not going to say you need to know how the heavenly bodies move around your world, but adding in something like this can make for some interesting world-building. Certainly I can see why many older cultures saw it as an omen; if I didn’t know the whole “shadow of the moon sliding in front of the sun” thing I’m pretty sure I’d freak out if the sun suddenly went dusk-dark with no obvious reason.
On the other hand, a lot of ancient cultures had really good astronomy* so they may have tracked the route of the moon and understood the situation quite well. Up to how you want to make your culture and their focuses!
*Can’t remember which is astrology and which is astronomy? Try this mnemonic I just now made up after looking it up!
Astronomy includes nom like numbers; that’s the science one.
Astrology includes log like a story; that’s the one that makes the stars into stories.
How accurate? Eh, as long as it helps me write the right one I don’t particularly care.