OGT DAILY Day Two Hundred and Eighteen ECLIPSE!

When I was growing up in the 60's there was a total eclipse of the sun every year except 1964 and 69.
There are several types of eclipse - annular: where the moon is smaller than the sun and leaves a bright ring, partial where the moon does not completely move over the sun; and total: where for several minutes the sky goes from sunny day to dark night.   This is a terrifying sight.   In ancient times it was thought to bring death and destruction because humans worshiped the sun that provided light and warmth and made crops grow.   The word eclipse comes from the Greek ékleipsis, which means to fail of abandon.   Mystical powers were ascribed to this heavenly event.    It was thought that the eclipse was a symbol of change or loss.   Indeed the years of my youth were times of great change and cultural shifts from the Vietnam War to the counter culture movement and the rise of civil rights and women's rights.

There was another total eclipse again on March 7, 1970.   I would have been just eleven years old and still in elementary school.  I remember distinctly being warned "Don't look at the sun," and we were instructed how to create a pin hole camera to watch the eclipse.  This was done with a box that you put over your head like the earliest form of virtual reality.

So this all came back to me today when I realized it was 12:30 pm and the great event was about to occur.   My neighbor and I laughed when we almost collided with our home-made gizmos headed for the bright lawn across the street.

I had made a cereal box pin-hole and then a much simpler grocery bag to put over my head.  The latter proved the best and I was even able to take photographs.   Marjorie had two pieces of cardboard, one with a hole which allowed her to project the image onto to the other.

At 2:44 as predicted the sky darkened and became hazy, but it did not become night because were not on the path of the total eclipse which occurred somewhere down around Tennessee.   What we saw looked more like a crescent moon.   Half an hour later everything was back to normal and the whole thing was over.

1:45 pm

2:45 pm 

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/eclipse-information.html