Total Solar Eclipse

Wow, just wow!

Central Texas was blessed with another eclipse this year. That’s two in the last seven months or so. The first was an annular eclipse. I wrote about that here:

Yesterday, we had the full solar eclipse. Once again, we headed to the home of some relatives to watch with family. While it was partly cloudy which spoiled some of the action, we were able to get the full experience and some views of totality as the clouds would break.

My nephew had a great telescope with a sun filter and was able to get some awesome shots as the eclipse progressed. Even with some clouds, the sun was bright enough to shine through.

Here’s one shot he got during the period of totality. You can actually see the plasma flows in the corona.

I was surprised by how dark it got during totality. I’ve seen partial eclipses before and even that annular eclipse linked to, above, but none of those got anywhere near this dark. They say you can see the stars during totality, but the clouds prevented that for us.

It was also amazing how fast it got dark. It was not like a lazy sunset. It was immediate as totality happened. The sky went from being dim daylight (the clouds added to this) just moments before to being like night. This happened in a matter of a few seconds.

And then, four minutes later, it was over.

Daylight returned as quickly as it had gone away, and we all went inside to grab some food and drinks.

When I think about the fact that the moon is exactly the right size and distance from the earth to blot out the sun, but allow humans to see the corona, I can’t help thinking that it’s a God-thing. Some of the first science dealing with the corona was performed during total solar eclipses because the corona was not otherwise visible. It’s just amazingly convenient that things are the right size and distance. No other planet in our solar system has such an arrangement.

As before, Psalm 19:1 comes to mind: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.”

---

If this article spoke to you, leave me a comment and let me know. Your feedback is always appreciated. Does somebody in your life need to read this? Share it with them (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.)! If this spoke to you, please subscribe to get future articles. And always like and “restack” this post in Substack to help others find it.