Experiencing an Annularism at UC Irvine

Yesterday evening I decided to hang out on a hillside, at the UC Irvine Campus, with hundreds of people, young, and old, that I don't even know!

For 2 hours!

 

What possessed me to do THAT?

The opportunity to somehow witness a partial, or "annular," Solar Eclipse that began at 530pm, and peaked at about 635pm.

 The UC Irvine Observatory hosted a "Visitor Night", encouraging the public to come with their own equipment, or view the event thru fancy telescopes they had on hand, or using special sunglasses costing $2 a pair.

 I took a bus to the campus, that dropped me off a mile from the Observatory, and walked up a narrow dirt path to reach it.

 There were old people, and young people, families with their kids, even some parents pushing Baby Utility Vehicles with their babies, & toddlers, college students, and young couple on a date night.

 It was an interesting evening in which I got to see the eclipse under several different conditions, using different types of equipment, homemade, and professional.

 I even used my own camera, an opportunity brought about by the incoming cloud cover that severly diluted the sunlight off, and on, including during the 10 minute window before, during, and after, the peak of the eclipse itself.

 This collection of photos shares my experience.

A young lady, in her 20's, brought the above homemade contraption.

The hole in the foreground projects the image onto the "Screen" in the backround.

If you look closely, just beyond where the arrow points, you can see my first glimpse of the eclipse, around 545pm.



Standing nearby was a man with a pair of binoculars, and a piece of cardboard.

My 2nd glimpse.



My 3rd view came while observing the eclipse projected onto a cardboard screen by a fancy telescope.

 

 

Around 615pm I borrowed a pair of sunglasses, from a lady, with a handfull in her hands, and a handful between managing her kids, and using her cell phone camera for photos. :-D

My 1st direct look at the eclipse.

An orange crescent in the sky.

In the next 10 minutes a cloud cover came up from the beach, and for the next hour made viewing the eclipse a cat & mouse game.

The above image, and the next 2, are of the final run up to peak, and peak itself, then comes an image taken 3 minutes after peak.

All taken using my camera.

 

 

 

 

This video of the full eclipse in all its colorful glory, start to finish in a minute, was created from 700 photos. :-D