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10/14/2023: Wow a Solar Eclipse
Wow, so just this morning, me and my mom saw the Annular Solar Eclipse going by in our backyard! I heard about this, a few days ago when mom gave me special solar eclipse glasses and a photo filter where you use it to cover the camera lens when taking picture of the sun, that she got from Amazon for like, $8. We live in southern Texas and it was in the path where the annual solar eclipse took place. Mom, being a science geek, knew this will be the first time that we can see it in person, so that’s why she made preparation to make sure we can see it, safety.
Of course me being a dumb person, I stayed up all night because I couldn’t sleep (and that the power went out at 2:40am, for like 10 minutes)! Another mistake I did was I thought the eclipse wasn’t going to start until 11:20am, based on the calendar reminder I had on my phone (it was in EASTERN TIME). It was at 10:11am when mom started texting everyone in the family group chat that it was going to start in 9 minutes! So, I made a mad dash in washing my face, brushing my teeth and putting on sunscreen before grabbing the eclipse glasses and the photo filter and headed downstairs.
When I was outside, it was surprisingly cold and windy. In October, it’s like 70-80 degrees in southern Texas and we just got out of this summer, where we had like, a 93 day streak of it being over 100 degree! There was sun…but it was too cloudy! The family group chat (mainly me, mom and my older sister, who had to work on that day) was worried that we’re going to miss because of the clouds. But I saw an article from Reddit (yes Reddit bad, but it was from the area I lived, where people were complaining about the clouds too) that clouds will ease up as the eclipse progresses.
At 10:56am, the moon made its’ first appearance in front of the sun and so for the next hour, I was taking pictures of the sun using the photo filter that my mom got me. Most were blurry because I had to actually look up at the sky and wearing the solar glasses….kind of didn’t help as I keep moving them in order to take the picture. Despite that, some of the photos came out pretty good, so I send them out in the family group chat where my older sister and my niece (who also wasn’t at home), praised my photo taking on the lens. Mom in the other hand, she was jealous of me because while she was using the same lens for her camera, the photos that she took, wasn’t as good compared to mines!
By 11:52am, the clouds actually did clear up (showing that the article that I mention before was actually correct) and I saw the “Ring of Fire”. By then, I was sitting on the pathway in my backyard, listening to music on my iPhone and looking up at the sun, wearing my solar glasses. It was amazing to actually see in person, compared to seeing it online or on TV.
I know the next one is going to be on April 8, 2024 and it’s the Total Solar Eclipse, where the moon will completely cover the sun for 4 minutes! Hopefully, we’ll still be in southern Texas when the total solar eclipse happens and I don’t misplace my solar glasses and photo lens. At least it’ll happened at 1:30pm, compared to 11:54am, so I’ll have time to sleep in before getting up to see them.
Here are some of the photos that I took along with the photo of solar glasses and the photo lens I took when I took the picture.
