This is the time of mooncakes and the traditional Sabbath Day or uposatha. That means it's the best time to observe the "fasting day," which means not eating before daylight or after noon. This is part of observing the Eight Precepts, an ancient tradition the Buddha praised as something worth continuing.
How do Buddhists observe the uposatha service?
(Buddhism Reflections) Uposatha days hold a special significance on the Buddhist calendar, particularly in the Theravada tradition. These weekly observance days are aligned with the phases of the moon, including the full moon, new moon, and two quarter moons.
During these times, both lay Buddhists and monastics engage in various practices that enhance their spiritual journeys. On the one hand, lay practitioners often take on additional precepts, dedicating themselves to deeper spiritual activities and community involvement.
Monastics, on the other hand, focus on reflection and purification, reciting the Patimokkha ("Path to Moksha"), a summary of the major rules of the Monastic Code of Discipline, which is a vital aspect of their monastic life.
The uposatha service is not just about individual practice; it also fosters a sense of community as laypeople gather at monasteries to support monks and nuns through food preparation and participation in rituals (pujas).
This day is steeped in tradition and serves as a reminder of the commitment to the Dhammaor Teachings of the historical Buddha.
The observance of uposatha varies slightly among different sects and countries, adding a unique flavor to this rich tradition.
Let's delve into the practices and significance of uposatha days in Buddhism and discover how they contribute to spiritual growth and community bonding. #BuddhaTeachings #Buddhism #Mindfulness
The last solar eclipse of 2025 happens on Sunday, Sept. 21st, just one day before the autumnal equinox. This partial solar eclipse will be visible from New Zealand, Antarctica, and the South Pacific.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Sept. 2025 partial solar eclipse put on a magnificent show as the moon swept over the face of our sun, darkening the sky over a swathe of the Pacific Ocean. Check out our wrap article to see the first images from the spectacular orbital ballet, as seen from the City of Dunedin, New Zealand.
Although not a total eclipse, this is a deep partial event, with the moon covering up to 86% of the sun! Southern New Zealand and Antarctic research stations will see the best views, whilst some Pacific islands will also get a show. More: space.com/stargazing/solar-eclipses
What is a rubber yacht? - It is a plasticized dinghy.
Who is Hymie? It is a religious slur for Jews derived from the Hebrew Chaim ("life"), pronounced /hai-ym/ or /hay-yim/. It is also used in the term "Hymietown," a nickname for Brooklyn, NY, and as a Jewish first name.
Who is Cohen? - Common Jewish surname, reminiscent of a priest or someone descended from a priestly caste.
In that case, what is The Rubber Yacht of Hymie Cohen? - It is a misapprehension and misunderstanding of the famous translated Persian text, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: new modern translation
Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) was a Persian astronomer and mathematician born in Nishapur in northeastern Iran, who lived and worked at the courts of the Seljuk dynasty.
Modern scholars agree that there is very little (if any) of the collected work of poetry known as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that can with certainty be attributed to the historical figure.
A tradition of attribution grew up in the centuries after Khayyam’s death, which culminated in the popular Edward Fitzgerald’s translation in the 19th century. More
Six planets are going to align in the sky. Here's how to see them
(The Secrets of the Universe) May 26, 2024, Planet Parade: Look towards the east just before sunrise and witness an amazing sight: a parade of six planets, with three visible to the naked eye. In early June, Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn will align in a straight line near a thin crescent moon.
Remarkably, all seven other planets are going to be in the same part of the sky in the first week of June, and we have an opportunity to catch glimpse of a few of them. However, plan ahead. Timing is crucial as are dark skies and a clear view of the horizon.
🎼 Music: Envato Elements
🎥 Footage: Envato Elements, StoryBlocks, NASA, Miguel Claro, and Pond5
💻 Created and Produced by: Rishabh Nakra
🎙️ Narrated by: Jeffrey Smith
🌌 Night Sky Emulators:
🌒 Sky Guide: https://apple.co/3Igtwx9
🌙 Stellarium: https://bit.ly/3IoXm2h
🌐 Sky Maps: Dominic Ford, in-the-sky.org
Crystal Q., CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
It is a horrible truism that while it is easy to convince people of a lie, it is nearly impossible to convince people that they have been lied to. Hitler knew that.*
The facts don't add up, but who cares about facts? It's not as if scientists are real scientists who are all about the observable, replicable, objective data. Don't believe your lying eyes, and don't you dare question authorities. You would never question the existence of God back when God mattered (y'know, before he was dead). You wouldn't even dream of it unless you wanted to be tarred, feathered, or completely ignored as "bonkers" and a "crank." Just so, now when Scientism is in the ascendancy and wielding all power and influencer, one had better not question Science or its white (lab coat) clad priesthood. But we did. We could only wish that science would be honest and respond to tough questions with facts, references, reason, and logic, which is a lot more than one could ask of religion.
Evidence: This map shows many paths of totality, each indicating the size of the object casting the shadow, none anywhere near the size reported for the moon. This is Rahu's shadow. And look at the massive size of Antarctica, not a pole but a mass encircling our world's oceans, just as we are told in Buddhist cosmology.
What happened? We arrived at Caltech about 10:00 am to a long line to get into an astroturf field behind Cahill. Glasses were nearly gone and the only officials were mostly volunteer buffs and students, not old professors who could speak with authority. We put the questions to them and they were hopelessly stumped. They saw the point but imagined that there was some way in which the three heavenly bodies were all moving and tilting and spinning so that somehow it all made sense.
There was no moon (the new moon phase, presumably below the horizon at night) visible the night before. The internet could not seem to place where it was. It was certainly not visible in the sky before 10:00 am. We searched for it. Then, suddenly, there it was in the southeastern sky, moving backwards, coming in under the sun, eating it from the lower right, moving slowly across to the left -- like it never does in real life. That wasn't our moon, Luna/Chandra. That was Rahu.
What about the fact that there was no moon visible in the days leading up to today? No one working at Caltech for this event had any knowledge of that. How about the fact that any shadow (eclipse on a path of totality) racing across the face of the USA could only be moving from east to west because the earth, we are told, is spinning from west to east.
Proof beyond doubt that solar eclipse was not caused by our moon: the shadow is far too small
.
(Los Angeles hurls toward New York, giving the illusion that the sun is rising in the east, we have all been taught. So anything that got in front of it to cast a big shadow would show up first in the eastern part of the country and then the western. But in both total solar eclipses, 2017 and 2024, the shadow started in the west and moved east. Look up the 2017 event and see it arising in Oregon and "crissing" down to Florida, and now this one was starting in Texas and crossing up to Maine, crisscrossing to make a misshapen X. When Mexico becomes part of Amero, the combining of Canada, the US, and Mexico under a common currency called the Amero, corresponding to the EU's Euro, the X will be a little better).
Everyone asked about these anomalies was stumped, so certain about what they were looking at, while all admitting that the moon always goes from east to west, always taking a southerly path that tightens and expands but never reverses. When no one could explain that or the fact that a celestial object blocking the sun could only cast a shadow AS WIDE AS ITSELF OR BIGGER. It cannot cast a shadow that is narrower. This is just a fact of light. Take an object, put a flashlight behind it, and pull the light away. No matter how far back the light source is pulled, the shadow will never, can never get narrower than the object itself.
2024 total solar eclipse through the eyes of NASA
(Fox News) Streamed live April 8, 2024. Live views of the total solar eclipse moving across North America, beginning in Mexico (which is in the part of North America that used to be called Mesoamerica) and Texas. #foxnews
CONCLUSION?
We should've brought a rishi on Bufo to see.
So whatever was eclipsing the sun was NOT the moon, could not have been the moon, and was clearly not the moon when looked at through filtered glasses. After the satellite (thing flying in front of the sun) passed, where did it go? A moon is quite visible by day. It is not invisible or transparent. There was no moon in the visible sky before the solar eclipse nor after. So one is left to conclude there was no moon during the solar eclipse. But no one talks about Rahu. No one dares mention it. We haven't been told. That's not part of our lore. It is a part of Buddhist cosmology and ancient Vedic and Hindu lore. Jainism knows about it. Therefore, the East must know. But the West? Rahu who?
After we got tired of asking everyone on the job, sent higher and higher up the chain until brains failed them and no one had any answer, we just enjoyed the show around a well positioned camera with a telescopic lens and filter, letting everyone have a look at the moon spots.
The field was packed with so many Asian students and adults that one might well think that group is the only one really interested in STEM fields and lunisolar phenomena. Do Japan, China, and Korea know about Rahu? They must. They would have heard of it through the holy land of India and the tradition that became the "Light of Asia."
We got a big laugh, much as happened seven years ago on a different part of the Caltech campus, when at maximum, we called hundreds to attention to put on their protective eyewear and look up. "We're at total partiality!" Alas, California would not be getting totality today, with Los Angeles only getting to 51% partiality.
It is the strangest thing to see all those eyewitnesses not thinking about what they're looking at, not dreaming to question it, submissive, bowing to the priests of Science in their great Ivory Tower cathedral, looking through scientific instruments and leaving feeling small like going to church used to make people feel. NASA rules, and whatever they NASA goes. The big lie about our skies is swallowed hook, lime, and tinkler, y'know, like a big glass of vodka on ice. People drunk on the illusion of science cheered for science, not the moon and certainly not the sun, when staring at the sky and reaching "total partiality," Ha ha ha, gotta love the faithful.
The new moon (when it is completely dark) is a good time, astrologically speaking, to begin something new, a change, a manifestation: As the moon waxes (increases in size and brightness), the thing manifested comes into being and grows. The waning phase is the half of the time the celestial body is decreasing. According to "yastrologer" Yasmin Boland, who studies "moonology," this solar eclipse portends many good things for those who are ready.
C2C Host Lisa Garr interviewed Yasmin Boland prior to the 2024 solar eclipse, hearing about all of the wonderful manifestation opportunities the new moon was providing for those who prepare
It may be a time of ascension, going from a 3D to 5D reality. Rejoice. We create our own world (our own reality) with our minds.
If you're part of a church (religious community) that tells you otherwise, hold your breath. We are about to be smote by God and punished for our iniquities. Of course, one would think that this is always happening. But, no, the Lord waits to slaughter us en masse like the great animal sacrifices He commanded in the Bible. And when you exhale, know that it isn't happening. So what does that say about the God, the Bible, and the church saying these things? It is a fact that all doomsday cults grow stronger when their predictions of doom do NOT come true. Why?
For one thing, the leader can say, "We saved the world from doom." And people will believe. Or they can say, "God spared us in His infinite mercy." And people will believe. Or they can say, "Oh, we had it wrong because the real year is such and such. And people will believe. Whatever happens, for good or ill, human minds can spin it to confirm our biases, People tend to be sheeple and believe.
Around here, we believe in peace and the punk slogan, "Fight war, not wars."
Millions experience a total solar eclipse
(CBC News: The National) CBC/Radio-Canada is a Canadian public broadcast service. Started streaming April 8, 2024: Millions of Canadians from Ontario to Newfoundland were awed by the total solar eclipse. Canada commits billions to upgrade its military but still falls short of a key commitment. Plus, a 14-year-old hockey phenomenon gets bumped up to junior hockey. #News #LatestNews #CBCNews
Hitler was right: The bigger the lie, the more people believe it
Trump learned from fellow German.
Ask narcissist Trump and his promises of endless "winning." We are going to win so much if we elect him, which we did as people voted down the monster that is The Hillary, and are you tired of winning? We're not. We wish we could have won more. Where's all that winning we were going to get tired of benefitting from, Trump?
He's a liar. She's a liar. Biden's just as bad (but less annoying about it). And anyone who calls anyone else a liar must be a liar, too, for the one who points the finger has three fingers pointing back.
I'm a super patriot because I wear the flag
So, oops, we better shut up, keep quiet, and not dare say that any king at anytime is naked.
No, no one's lying. Even Hitler wasn't lying. Look at all he did for Germany. And, of course, our mainstream media doesn't lie. They're a bunch of truthtellers and whistleblowers, spreading righteousness and reason throughout the land with no thought of profit or benefit for themselves.
The government should change the name of MSNBC-FOXNEWS to Pravda in one big conglomerate of corporate media. And we for our part can obey whatever they say we should do.
Vaccinate? Check. Big Pharma poisons? Check. War on Iran, Russia, Gaza, China, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan? Check, check, check... Let's all go along to get along.
Team Eclipse, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly
Oops, glasses marked safe and approved may not be. And even if they are, don't stare too long.
New and improved map of totality shows shadow moving in wrong direction for our cosmology
.
Desi Lydic on Trump's Nebraska electoral vote play and the 2024 solar eclipse
(The Daily Show) April 4, 2024: Genius comic Desi Lydic unpacks the mania surrounding the upcoming solar eclipse, Trump's attempt to change Nebraska's electoral vote system, and why the New York Marathon is pissed at the MTA. Plus, Ronny Chieng and Jordan Klepper have a good old-fashioned moon versus sun debate. #DailyShow #Comedy #Trump
WARNING: According to Hindu and Indian lore, it is very bad to see a solar eclipse. Go indoors and stay there until all is clear. It's bad luck and mojo. The shadow is harmful. Approach at own risk.
Our whole lives, for every eclipse, we have been told, "It will be 500 years before this happens again" to make it seem like a precious and irreplaceable sight to see. That's the profit-motive news for ya.
It may technically be true, but the fact is there is a full eclipse every 18 months and partial ones every five months, according to C2C 4/3/24 guest astronomer Dr. Tyler Nordgren. That makes a lot more sense.
There's always one to see that will be better, like the upcoming Egyptian full solar eclipse that will last for like 7.5 minutes, which million will travel to see. It won't be possible to sit on a pyramid to see it, but the skies are likely to be clear. The other thing we are not told is that, whatever it is that causes an eclipse (likely Rahu and not Luna/Chandra/Soma, our moon) casts a shadow as wide as itself and not narrower. It is a law of light and optics. So if it is the moon, our satellite is very small and nearby. Some declare that sun and moon are of the same size, revolving above us in a changing oval pattern, not Earth (Tierra, Bhumi) revolving in their faces as they hold still.
The other interesting thing to know, and it's good reason to get to totality if possible, is that 95% or even 99% totality is nothing like the full thing. All that happens at less than totality is some dimming and interesting shadows under trees where dappled light shows many little eclipses. In 100%, the world goes dark, temperatures drop, and the birds and insects get confused, one going silent and landing, the other chirping, only to stop a few minutes later to carry on as before. What an awe-inspiring sight it must have been before we thought we knew everything, trying to come up with an explanation for what was happening. Now we assume we are told the real story, when we've been fed misinformation that does not align with our observations. Yet, no one seems to notice.
Anyone can know that some senseless story is afoot, that NASA has been lying to the world for decades. Consider this: Which way is the Earth moving, turning, revolving? It's spinning east, we're told. Los Angeles is racing toward New York. That's why the sun seems to rise in the east and set in the west. While this is happening, the sun stays still in the eastern sky. And we are made to believe that moon crosses in front of it, seeming to head west or south sometimes. Look at the path of the eclipse, a shadow starting in the south (Texas) and moving up to the northeast (Maine).
That would not happen with the arrangement we are told we begin with. Maybe it's starting in Maine and coming down toward Texas and beyond. That would make more sense. Years ago, there was a solar eclipse visible on the West Coast, beginning in the Pacific Northwest and crossing down toward Florida and beyond. No one noticed that this is impossible?
Eclipse shadow moving in wrong direction
The shadow could never move from the northwest down to the southeast IF the Earth were spinning east to make the sun seem like it is traveling west. Map it out on a markerboard, and one thing becomes clear: We're being lied to. At that time, we were at Caltech surrounded by scientists, science students, and eclipse fans. We posed the question of how what we were seeing through filtered telescopes and using pinhole boxes could not possibly be caused by the moon.
Before the eclipse, the moon was in eastern sky and disappeared by daybreak. This was mentioned to the Caltech professor standing there in front of a crowd. He agreed. Then, looking through the telescope, the professor was told to see it. He did. "Look again," he was prompted. Whatever is passing in front of the sun to obscure it is coming down from the upper left down to the lower right. "Okay," he said, since we could all see and confirm that. "So we're to believe the moon traveled backwards to get in position to block the sun by descending down and crossing at an angle?"
The moon mostly goes from the east, not overhead, but in a trajectory that takes it south, moving west, and curving up toward Santa Monica and the Pacific Northwest. It changes through the year, but it is inconsistent with holding still as we on Earth race at 1,000 MPH toward the east. The professor, a vaunted scientist, was stymied. He kept starting and stopping like man in search of a lie to cling to: "The moon actually rises twice, because there are two moonrises every day," he repeated, not coming to a point. Does it?
We don't think so, but say that it does, how would that explain anything. Could he have meant to say it appeared the night before as usual then raced back to block the sun in the late morning to form the eclipse. He was asked for the path of travel, which was obvious every night preceding the eclipse. Point at Maine or the northeast and swing the hand across the sky toward Florida, continuing over the Gulf and back up toward the Santa Monica Bay. That's how it looks from Los Angeles. That was no different the night before.
Often the moon doesn't make it all the way before sinking down below the western horizon. With that established, how in the world was the moon now coming down from high above the sun at an angle? The Caltech professor had no answer, and he knew it, but everyone was staring at him, hoping for a clever explanation that would render all of this clear.
Instead, he said, "I'll have to ask the boys in the lab" as if they were working on the problem underground somewhere on campus, toiling away with their calculus and adjusting their world-class telescopes, sending frantic messages on their computers to Hubble to turn around and catch this earthly event. Did the professor quit, realizing he had been lied to and had been lying to all of his students and now his current audience? Nope. That paycheck kept him right where he was, head down, going along to get along.
Wisdom Quarterly will get to the bottom of this mysterious controversy tomorrow at the West Coast's greatest institute of scientific learning, Caltech, at the university's big solar eclipse viewing party. All are welcome to attend because Griffith Park Observatory will be closed and the Mt. Wilson event has been scuttled. Hey, if they're available, why not stump a scientist with facts?
How to watch the solar eclipse from California — and avoid heartbreak if chasing ‘totality’
RONG-GONG LIN II, LORENA IÑIGUEZ ELEBEE, SEAN GREENE, LOS ANGELEST TIMES, PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2024, UPDATED APRIL 3, 2024, 11:11 AM PT
A partial solar eclipse will appear in Los Angeles from the southeast on Monday morning, April 8, 2024. The big party we were planning on Mt. Wilson has been scuttled due to inclement weather.
While a narrow strip of North America celebrates the arrival of a rare total solar eclipse April 8 — when midday darkness will be cast on a sliver of states, including Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and New York — there won’t be any “totality” in Los Angeles.
Still, if the skies remain cloud-free, California will enjoy an impressive partial eclipse that will feature the moon taking a bite out of the late-morning sun.
In Los Angeles, about half of the sun will be visibly covered by the moon, and in San Francisco, one-third will be.
The northernmost parts of the state will see the smallest amount of the eclipse, while cities to the south will experience more.
In Crescent City, in coastal Del Norte County, about 25% of the sun will be eclipsed; in Holtville, near the Mexican border in Imperial County, up to 58% of the sun will be blocked.
It’ll be the last partial solar eclipse for L.A. and San Francisco until 2029.
The event has generated considerable buzz, as it will be the last total solar eclipse seen from the contiguous United States until 2044.
The last one was in 2017, and before that, in 1979. Last October’s “ring of fire” solar eclipse was not total but “annular,” in which the moon was a bit farther away from Earth and short of completely blotting out the sun, thus leaving a glowing ring around it.
2024 solar eclipse
Map shows the path of totality arcing through parts of Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and New England. Obscuration varies from 100%, 90%, 75%, and a minimum of 50% farther north.
On April 8, parts of the United States will experience a total solar eclipse. The rest of the continental U.S. will be able to see a partial eclipse.
Cities in a narrow, 115-mile [wide?] “path of totality” — where the moon completely blocks the sun’s visible surface — include Mazatlán, Mexico; Dallas; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and Sherbrooke, Canada.
An estimated 31.5 million live in the path of totality, and about 200 million others are within a few hours’ drive.
Far more people live in or near the eclipse’s path compared with those in 2017 and 1979.
What makes this solar eclipse particularly notable is that the entire contiguous U.S., as well as parts of Alaska and Hawaii, will be able to view at least a partial eclipse, allowing for a national experience.
But there’s a risk of heartbreak for eclipse aficionados if clouds roll in. Overcast skies will still darken in the path of totality, but “it’s obviously not as much fun as observing a solar eclipse in a cloud-free sky,” said Jean-Luc Margot, a UCLA professor of planetary astronomy.
Los Angeles view
In Los Angeles, the partial solar eclipse will start at 10:06 am, and a substantial bite of the sun will be obvious by 10:39 am, peaking at 11:12 am.
By 12:22 pm, it will be over, according to the Griffith Observatory.
Viewers will be able to see a small, little bite-sized chunk that the moon is taking out of the sun as it blocks some of its light.
— Dakotah Tyler, UCLA astrophysics doctoral student
NASA offers an eclipse explorer map, at go.nasa.gov/EclipseExplorer, with data for U.S. cities.
“You will be able to see a small, little, bite-sized chunk that the moon is taking out of the sun as it blocks some of its light,” said Dakotah Tyler, an astrophysics doctoral student at UCLA, who also makes science videos on social media.
Breatharians live on real light and prana.
“So that’s still a really cool thing to see, even if you’re not in the path of totality.”
No one should look at the sun directly during any phase of a partial solar eclipse.
And relying only on regular sunglasses, smoked glass, or polarizing filters is also unsafe.
“It is very dangerous to look at the partially eclipsed sun directly with your own eyes,” said Ed Krupp, the longtime director of the Griffith Observatory.
[Indian yogis who practice gazing at the sun, do so under special conditions that allow the atmosphere to act as a filter, when it is very low in the sky. Practice that only under expert supervision of an experienced yogi who is neither blind nor hard-of-seeing. Or else, expect a burned retina. While sunlight is good, this may not be the sun. A replacement may have taken its place, as in The Truman Show. A hologram figure hiding the real thing, as with the moon, is quite possible, as hard as it may be to believe or accept that we have been deceived for a long time.]
“You’re tempted to do it, but it will burn the retinas permanently and cause permanent [partial or possibly complete] blindness.”
A man uses eclipse glasses while looking up at the sky
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker uses eclipse glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse during team practice on Oct. 14, 2023 (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press).
In one documented case, a young woman who looked at the 2017 solar eclipse for 20 seconds without eye protection suffered permanent eye damage with no known treatment, according to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
Within hours, her eyesight became blurry and she could only see the color black. Doctors found she had crescent-shaped retinal damage, which was the “shape of the visible portion of the sun during the partial solar eclipse in New York City,” the facility said.
[It is also important to have a diet rich in antioxidants and low in oxidized fried, processed, highly processed, and ultra-processed food-like stuffs, which put the "junk" in term "junk food," which is actually an oxymoron.]
“You need eye protection. That’s crucial,” Margot said.
People should obtain eclipse glasses or handheld sun filters, but buy them from reputable retailers.
NASA says safe solar viewers should comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard, adopted in 2015. Those made with this standard can be used indefinitely as long as they aren’t damaged, the American Astronomical Society says, so those left over from the 2017 eclipse are safe to use if they aren’t torn, scratched, or punctured, or the filters aren’t coming loose from the cardboard of plastic frames.
BEWARE: Some eclipse glasses are labeled ISO-compliant but haven’t been properly tested, the society said.
“Don’t pick up your eclipse glasses on some street corner. People make fake ones now, and it’s quite problematic,” Krupp said.
The American Astronomical Society posts a list of North American manufacturers and importers whose products are safe if used properly.
A man watches a solar eclipse.
Mike Guymon of Santa Monica brought a Solarama — a solar eclipse viewing filter — to watch the annular solar eclipse in Bluff, Utah, in 2023 (Ash Ponders/Los Angeles Times).
Some experts also warn against staring at the eclipse for minutes on end, even with proper eye protection.
Krupp suggests looking up for just a moment, to see the progress, and then waiting 10 minutes or so before seeing how it looks again.
“Just because you have a filter, or eclipse glasses, doesn’t mean that it’s safe...to keep staring and staring. That’s the last thing you want to do,” Krupp said.
Pinhole camera and other ways
Another way to monitor the eclipse’s progression is through a pinhole camera, which can be made by poking a pin-size hole in a piece of aluminum foil or paper with a safety pin, paper clip, or pencil, and projecting the image of the sun onto the ground.
Holding up a colander can also project the partial eclipse onto the ground, as can looking at sunlight dappling through a tree’s leaves, or through your fingers aligned perpendicularly.
People using binoculars, camera lenses, and telescopes need to mount proper solar filters on the outermost lenses receiving light, filtering the powerful rays before they enter the device. Otherwise, the sunlight will be concentrated, and instant, severe eye injury can occur, NASA warns.
How to ruin your smart phone
For those interested in taking photos of the eclipse with their smartphone, Krupp suggested shooting wide-angle views.
The sun will appear pretty small, “but you’ve got the landscape around there” — similar to how people take photographs of sunrises and sunsets.
There will be eclipse viewing parties across California, including at the California Science Center in South L.A., Caltech in Pasadena, and Cal State L.A.
No parties at Griffith Observatory or Mt. Wilson
It's a great excuse to party outside.
(The big event at the Mt. Wilson Observatory was canceled due to weather worries.)
A number of public libraries across Los Angeles County also will hold viewing parties, and eclipse glasses will be available as long as supplies last.
One notable place that won’t host an in-person watch party is Griffith Observatory. Instead, it will broadcast the total solar eclipse live from Belton, Texas.
The Griffith Observatory Foundation is leading a viewing trip there as well as to Mazatlán, Mexico, where Krupp will be.
Weather worries
A big worry for eclipse chasers seeking to be in the path of totality is the weather. Unlike the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, which was blessed with sunny skies for many, this April could be a different story.
“I’m calling this eclipse — April 8, 2024 — the ‘heartbreaker’ because we know the saying: ‘April showers bring May flowers.’ So dodging the clouds is going to be anything but a trivial task for this particular eclipse,” Jeremy Veldman, president of the Memphis Astronomical Society.
He said this in a YouTube video that covered 45 years of weather satellite photos for previous April 8 dates, as compiled by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.
A detailed analysis of past climate conditions for April, between 2000 and 2020, posted on the website Eclipsophile, said the probability of cloudiness increases the farther north one goes.
But climate averages are useful only if one is planning years in advance.
There have been times on April 8, Veldman said, such as in 2019, where “no matter where you go, there’s the likelihood you’re gonna be dodging clouds,” with the exception of southern Texas.
But sometimes, like on April 8, 1994, southern Texas was cloudy but other areas farther north were largely clear, even New York.
The Eclipsophile analysis said that now is the time to start looking at long- and short-range forecasts.
Where to see it?
100 million Native before Columbus
The call about where to go is mixed. Some have well-laid plans and say they’ll stay put no matter what. Other die-hard eclipse chasers may have multiple contingencies “so that they can change based on the weather,” NASA astrophysicist Kelly Korreck said at a briefing in January.
But deciding to move locations too late could leave you stuck in traffic. “Even interstates will come to a halt when the eclipse is imminent,” the Eclipsophile analysis said.
For those lucky enough to experience totality and who are positioned along the eclipse’s center line, it’ll be a relatively long event, generally 3½ to 4 minutes, depending on location.
By contrast, the longest duration of the 2017 total solar eclipse, near Carbondale, Illinois, was about 2 minutes, 40 seconds.
Veteran eclipse watchers say those in the path of totality can expect a transcendental experience. The last moment of sunlight that’s blocked out by the moon “produces a bright, bright spot on the dark disk of the sun,” Krupp said, referred to as a “diamond ring.”
If skies are clear, you might notice a “distinct column of the shadow of the moon — this cylindrical shadow column — moving toward you,” said Science Director for Mt. Wilson Observatory Tim Thompson.
Stange sky phenomena
Once you’re in the shadow, the temperature can drop; during his total solar eclipse experience in Idaho in 2017, the temperature dropped by 20 degrees.
Then, a moment later, the moon will completely block the sun’s surface.
“It’s like somebody threw a switch. The sun is completely blocked by the moon [or more likely by Rahu]. The darkness of the eclipsed sun is darker than the sky around it,” Krupp said.
“It seems like the deepest black that you’ve ever seen, particularly in contrast with the rest of the sky — which has grown dark, but not nighttime dark.”
Animals may react strangely, thinking it’s nighttime, and it can feel like “you’ve got this wraparound sunrise-sunset,” Krupp said.
“You’re looking out in every direction from where you are in the middle of the shadow.”
Added Thompson: “It’s that sunrise-sunset effect all along the horizon. You can’t see that kind of thing, ever, except during a total eclipse.”
We're afraid to look and go blind.
For those in the zone of totality, that’s the only time it’s safe to take off eclipse glasses and watch with the naked eye, NASA says.
People may be able to see the sun’s corona, the outer solar atmosphere, that’s superheated to millions of degrees — hotter than the surface of the sun, Tyler said.
“The corona is a very bright white and very obvious. And you never see anything like that unless it’s a total eclipse,” Thompson said.
“The contrast between that and the moon is so extreme — the moon becomes the blackest thing you’ve ever seen. ... It’s just like a hole punched in the universe.”
A total solar eclipse: The total solar eclipse of 2017, in a photo taken from the Gulfstream III, a business jet operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. The sun’s corona, the outer solar atmosphere, which is viewable as streams of white light, can be seen only during a total eclipse (Carla Thomas/NASA).
Krupp described the corona as a “pearly whitish halo of light around the sun but has streamers going in various directions.”
Another feature that can be seen are flame-like structures called prominences on the edge of the sun, showing up in contrast to the white light of the corona. They are coming out of the chromosphere, “which is shining with the red light of hydrogen at a particular temperature. And that looks sort of like a little arc of red, just depending on where you get it. It hugs the dark disk of the sun,” Krupp said.
Thompson suggested those attending their first total solar eclipse not bother with special viewing equipment during totality. “If you’ve never done it before, then you don’t want to be distracted by anything,” Thompson said.
“Don’t take telescopes, don’t try to photograph it. Maybe hold up your cellphone camera and take a click or something. ...But it’s all about being there and being part of the experience.”
A person views an eclipse with solar glasses.
Tatiana Kalish, 17, of El Segundo views a partial solar eclipse at the California Science Center in 2017 (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times).
It’s a marvel that solar eclipses happen in such perfect formation between Earth, the moon [or Rahu], and the sun.
There’s “this amazing cosmic coincidence that the size of the moon and the size of the sun — in an angular sense — are about the same,” Margot said.
“Even though the sun is 400 times larger than the moon...it also happens to be 400 times further away.”
[This is likely untrue. They are the same size and roughly the same distance away. That is far more probable, but we have been led to believe this other nonsense that runs counter to every religion's explanation of the sky. The Bible says otherwise. And Buddhist cosmology, based largely on Vedic, Hindu, and Jain cosmologies. In these explanations, the Earth is a disk under the firmament with the moon chasing the sun around the sky in a circle, which is exactly as it appears to us and our observations. Science tells another story that is so unlikely and hard to believe that we must never question it or fear ridicule, expulsion from school or graduate programs, and self doubt.]
Those in the path of totality should keep an eye on the time — perhaps using a timer or alarm — to know when to put their eclipse glasses back on. Original source:
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