I too was in the totality. It was a little more awesome than I thought it would be. Not awesome in the sense of “that was an awesome cheeseburger,” but awesome in the sense of catching a brief glimpse of our place in the cosmos. For two-and-half minutes, I was fully aware that I was on a small planet with a smaller satellite, orbiting an obscure star at an oblique angle to the center of a backwater galaxy, nearly 14 billion years after the Big Bang. Also, it was beautiful. Millions of stars, caught unawares, quickly shaving and putting on a brief cameo; birds, and even a couple of bats, taking off (and sounding off) in mass confusion; roosters crowing; the temperature suddenly dropping and sending the less hearty to scramble for a sweater. Also, my sister-in-law Michelle made some great chili, and my brother-in-law Tom kept passing around some good Vermont cheeses on slices of seeded baguette.
> It turns out it was grossly, almost criminally, undersold.
AMEN!
Even many of the descriptions along the lines of, "It was a moment of awe as I considered my place in a vast universe, etc." undersell the absolute wonder of the moment.
For me, the absolutely black and white body in the center of a dark night sky and almost broke my brain. It was akin to everything I understood or have experience about the world being thrown out the window.
I drove from California to AR to see this, my first eclipse, and it was 100% worth it.
Also, I love your photo, b/c unlike most photos that zoom in on the eclipse and the white corona, it shows the entire context. Although it was exactly where I expected it to be, I was completely shocked that the dramatic appearance was just right there in the middle of the sky.
I too was in the totality. It was a little more awesome than I thought it would be. Not awesome in the sense of “that was an awesome cheeseburger,” but awesome in the sense of catching a brief glimpse of our place in the cosmos. For two-and-half minutes, I was fully aware that I was on a small planet with a smaller satellite, orbiting an obscure star at an oblique angle to the center of a backwater galaxy, nearly 14 billion years after the Big Bang. Also, it was beautiful. Millions of stars, caught unawares, quickly shaving and putting on a brief cameo; birds, and even a couple of bats, taking off (and sounding off) in mass confusion; roosters crowing; the temperature suddenly dropping and sending the less hearty to scramble for a sweater. Also, my sister-in-law Michelle made some great chili, and my brother-in-law Tom kept passing around some good Vermont cheeses on slices of seeded baguette.
> It turns out it was grossly, almost criminally, undersold.
AMEN!
Even many of the descriptions along the lines of, "It was a moment of awe as I considered my place in a vast universe, etc." undersell the absolute wonder of the moment.
For me, the absolutely black and white body in the center of a dark night sky and almost broke my brain. It was akin to everything I understood or have experience about the world being thrown out the window.
I drove from California to AR to see this, my first eclipse, and it was 100% worth it.
Also, I love your photo, b/c unlike most photos that zoom in on the eclipse and the white corona, it shows the entire context. Although it was exactly where I expected it to be, I was completely shocked that the dramatic appearance was just right there in the middle of the sky.
Very cool! We saw the same eclipse in very different locations but came to a very similar conclusion about the cosmos and so called “coincidences”