Associated Press (ap.org/Sci/Tech News); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly
.
The stars came out in the
middle of the day, zoo animals ran in agitated circles, crickets
chirped, birds fell silent, and a chilly darkness settled upon the land
Monday as the U.S. witnessed its first full-blown, coast-to-coast solar
eclipse since World War I.
Millions of North Americans gazed in wonder at the cosmic
spectacle, with the best seats along the so-called path of totality
that raced 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) across the continent from
Oregon to South Carolina.
"It was a very primal experience," Julie Vigeland,
of Portland, Oregon, said after she was moved to tears by the sight of
the sun reduced to a silvery ring of light in Salem. It took 90 minutes
for the shadow of the moon to travel across the country.
Along that
path, the moon [or something] blotted out the midday sun for about two wondrous minutes
at any one place, eliciting oohs, aahs, whoops, and shouts from people
gathered in stadiums, parks, and backyards.
It was, by all accounts, the most-observed and
most-photographed eclipse in history, documented by satellites and
high-altitude balloons and watched on Earth through telescopes, cameras,
and cardboard-frame protective eyeglasses.
In
Boise, Idaho, where the sun was more than 99 percent blocked, the
street lights flicked on briefly, while in Nashville, Tennessee, people
craned their necks at the sky and knocked back longneck beers at Nudie's
Honky Tonk bar.
Passengers aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean
watched it unfold as Bonnie Tyler sang her 1983 hit "Total Eclipse of
the Heart." Several minor-league baseball teams — one of them, the
Columbia Fireflies, outfitted for the day in glow-in-the-dark jerseys —
briefly suspended play.
 |
| Who needs these things? I got the best eyes! |
The path of totality, where the sun was 100 percent obscured by the moon, was just 60 to 70 miles (96 to 113 kilometers) wide. But the rest of North America was treated to a partial eclipse, as were Central America, and the upper reaches of South America. More
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- StarGeezerRadio.com (order eclipse shades)
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