It was intended that way. Glad it got a grip on you. However, nothing
I can write can adequately portray the awe of a total eclipse. Have you
seen a partial solar eclipse. Even one approaching totality? You ain't
seen nothin' yet my friend. The difference is as between a little
firecracker and a hydrogen bomb. Truly awesome.
Cold weather and snow might put a damper on some of the emotions but
spring and 70 degree F. in North Carolina added barking dogs, twittering
birds and chattering people by the thousands on the campus of East
Carolina University. At the moment of totality all went so suddenly
quiet you could have heard a pin drop in the grass.
Chuck Norcutt
Joel Wilcox wrote:
> This is perhaps the most gripping thing I ever read on this list.
>
> Joel W.
>
> On 2/27/06, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>I have seen one total solar eclipse in my life. I believe it was March
>>of 1968 but my memory is frail. I journeyed about 700 miles from my
>>then home in Endicott, New York to Greenville, North Carolina. I
>>remember being amazed by the large numbers of people just outside the
>>path of totality just going about their everyday business not realizing
>>that the sight of a lifetime was but a short distance away.
>>
>>I had prepared for the event by taking my Miranda GT with a lens
>>consisting of a cobbled together off-axis telescope made from a 2-1/2"
>>f/10 mirror. All was on a mounting made of bolts, 2x4's, plaster lath
>>and other odds and ends.
>>
>>If you've ever watched a partial solar eclipse the run-up to the main
>>event is rather pedestrian... that is, until you get close to totality
>>and the tepmerature starts to drop, birds stop chattering, dogs stop
>>barking, shadow bands go skittering over the ground and Bailey's beads
>>appear on the periphery of the moon.
>>
>>Then, BANG!! Suddenly the lights go out, the stars get switched on,
>>near the horizon it's sunrise/sunset for 360 degrees around you and the
>>sun suddenly is a moon sized black hole surrounded by streaming flares
>>of red and blue several times its diameter.
>>
>>Well, I'll tell you I never got another shot off during all of totality.
>> You could have knocked me over with a feather. I stood there with my
>>mouth hanging open suddenly understanding the awe with which the
>>ancients must have viewed this apparition. If I were to do it again I
>>wouldn't even take a camera except maybe to shoot the crowd. The view
>>is overwhelming and too much of a spectacle to bother taking photos.
>>Buy them from someone else afterwards.
>>
>>But don't miss it. I think it's the most spectacular thing I've ever
>>seen in my entire life. Too bad it was only 3-1/2 minutes.
>>
>>Chuck Norcutt
>
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