Eclipse Day in Edinboro, PA

The sun in eclipse.

This I expect was my last opportunity to see a total eclipse of the sun in my lifetime. The next one to hit the contiguous states of the United States is not calendared until 2025, when I will be 85. Perhaps I make it. But, even if I do, it's less likely that I would be interested in traveling to see it. So this was my chance. Even though it was eclipsing nowhere near Las Vegas.

Pretty much the entire contiguous lower 48 states were going to see at least a partial eclipse. Some more partial than others. Las Vegas was a minor amount of partial. So if the Total Eclipse of the Sun will not come to me, I will come to it. Besides, it was time for my annual trek to Pennsylvania and the band of totality was not far from my sister's house.

We chose to spend the 2024 Total Eclipse of the Sun at the eclipse watch party in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, on the campus of the local college, and well within the band of totality and not a far drive (well, the drive THERE -- the drive back was a whole different story).

They had food trucks and restrooms. What more do you need from an eclipse watching party. (Other than eclipse-watching protective eyewear. Which they were giving out in the rest stops on I-79. Which we did not need because we were prepared with the upscale plastic ones and not the cheap cardboard ones that look like 1950 3-D movie watching glasses).

More importantly, they had skies that by the time of the Big Event were sufficiently clear enough to afford a great view of the eclipsing sun.

I've seen excellent professional photos with the light being set by someone who know what they are doing and the eclipse is very distinct.  I am not that photographer.  This is what you get.

The actual moments of totality were spectacular. I was surprised that it never got completely dark. O was expecting midnight. It was more like deep into dusk. And we could not hear birds chirping to hear if they stopped chirping. But it was spectacular nevertheless. The light was weird. (I heard a professional photographer on the news says it's because the light takes on a greenish hue as the moment of totality gets closer.) It did get colder. The winds did pick up.

What surprised me the most is that I could not see the corona explode into view through my eclipse-viewing glasses. The corona is apparently less bright than the ball of the sun. I saw the sun completely disappear through the eclipse. Then I saw black. I thought I lost the sun from my view. Then I heard the crowd erupt. You could watch the totality with the naked eye. In fact, that was my only choice. So I did. I did not stare. Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun / But mama, that's where the fun is.

It didn't look like a black disc with fire around it, as I expected and as it looks on TV. But it was a pale yellow disc, a more pastel color than the sun normally would be, that you could look at, surrounded by a ring of yellow fire. Now I know why some people are fanatical about chasing total eclipses of the sun.