safely viewing the eclipse April 8, 2024
Toronto. Well yesterday was a rare day in Toronto! We saw the total eclipse of the sun! Shades of Carly Simon and Nova Scotia decades ago. Last fall I posted the 1912 eclipse in Lisbon. Keep in mind these are literally once in a life time events. While eclipses are frequent over a life time, they seldom block the sun over a major city – especially one in which you happen to reside.
The Toronto event was experienced by many, including some PHSC members. David, our journal co-editor writes, ” In the interest of science, here’s a chart of exposure at f11 with my trusty Sekonic during the eclipse. And here’s our viewer [see image at left] (some might recognize part of this). We got a brief bit of sun until about 3 PM so got to see a bite out of the disc at the beginning….socked in though, during the crucial hour.”
As for me, I was watching TV as the daylight slowly changed into an afternoon of night then rose again to, by our supper time (8ish), full sunlight.
Note: What could be better for this post than Carly Simon singing her 1970s song, “You’re So Vain“?
