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| The Rising Star! |
This was an event that gathered worldwide attention. The natural spectacle of the Moon covering the Sun is something you don't witness everyday. The great American solar eclipse it was named, as Moon's shadow passed through 18 out of 50 states. People all over the country were geared up for this event for sun glasses and equipment were getting sold by the minute and at exorbitant prices (with no return policy after Aug 21st of course), hotels and campgrounds along the line of totality were overbooked months in advance, locals living in the small towns began renting their backyards to eclipse watchers, businesses at exits off highways expected good revenue and prepared well in advance, schools were closed, local police forces geared up for security and traffic congestion - this was truly a big event lasting 2 minutes. Two minutes of wonder, amazement and awe - my words do not do enough justice to this spectacle. My friends and I decided not to miss this celestial event and to see what the fuss was all about. We knew what to expect in every phase and what to watch for and we were fairly prepared thanks to all the YouTube videos and blogposts. We head out to Carbondale, IL, a college town where the totality was of 2 minutes and 37 seconds, the longest overall. Carbondale being 5 1/2 hours away from our home, we left at 4:30 am taking traffic into consideration. We reached Carbondale at 11:45 am, right on time for the show to start. With all parking lots filled and roads blocked, we drove around the area and luckily found a spot. We quickly set our chairs under shade and glasses on when the Moon made initial contact at 11:52 am. It was roughly 87 degree Fahrenheit and we were slowly getting roasted but no one minded the heat for the total solar eclipse was about to happen. We made note of the contact time and the phases and our IPhone app reminded us what to watch out for. My friends started to relax and enjoy but I on the other hand wanted to capture the phases on my DSLR and started to fumble on the exposure settings as I did not have a ND (neutral density) filter. The rays on the sun shone brilliantly but the moon was no where to be seen on my pictures due to the bright rays of the sun. I decided to get some expert advise and telephoned my brother in India who was watching all this live on his computer, but we had less time and no more setting to alter. I decided to throw in the towel and enjoy the spectacle instead, waiting for totality when I had a better chance without the filter. But the clouds decided not to show us Sun's brilliance and we had gloomy skies for the complete duration of totality. But, being under complete totality, we experienced darkness during the middle of the day. It was mid-day when the totality happened and a series of events unfolded - the temperature began to drop drastically closer to totality and in it. We started to feel the significant drop in temperature, sunlight dimmed and felt like dusk was upon us. Crickets chirped noisily and some confused birds started singing thinking night was about to fall. Streetlights came on and we were amazed to witness almost complete darkness for two full minutes when the moon felt too hot under the sun and so started moving away. Now the clouds with a smug expression feeling satisfied and sadistic having stolen Sun's thunder, also moved away giving us the other end of the moon moving away from the sun. We did not get to see totality or Baily's beads or the Diamond ring twice in its occurrence or the shadow bands but we experienced totality and the glimpse into losing our biggest star of life.
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| Nearing totality! |
Earth's life source is the Sun and I was reminded that without the Sun there is nothing and this made me realize how insignificant we all are in the scheme of things. Sure, we see the sun everyday and its up in the sky and it will be there tomorrow same time. But what happens if it decides to retire? Life will be history and so will we. As dark as it sounds, its a thought that has not left me since then. Yes, the sun has enough gas in it to sustain till my lifetime and for billions after me but we are only fragments in size and power of our superstar. I wish we had seen the climax of our show but I will have to wait till 2024, better equipped and better informed. We reached home close to mid night sluggishly along with the hundred thousands along the same route. Tired and famished as we were, with close to 20 hours of driving for two minutes of awesomeness which we couldn't witness, I felt it was worth all the hype and even more. This is one event everyone should witness at least once in their short life.
