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Education & Politics, San Francisco Bay Area

Did You See the Total Solar Eclipse? An Event of a Lifetime

Were you able to peak at the rare total eclipse yesterday? Even though total eclipses occur every year or two, a very small percentage of the world population has ever been in the path of totality. What made the 2017 eclipse unique was that the path of totality traversed the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.

I headed to the Chabot Space and Science Center in the Oakland hills. By the time I got there, the cars leading up to the insanely-packed parking lot had slowed to a snail’s pace. I thought for sure I was going to miss it. One-by-one, cars pulled over and started parking on the side of the road. I did the same and hiked up to the Center just in time!

I’m really glad I got to experience the eclipse with my community, with everyone cheering and howling at the moon! Also, I don’t think I would have known where to look if scientists and volunteers weren’t pointing me in the right direction!

It cracks me up how everyone was making fun of Trump looking up at the sky. Doh! So did I. And look at the crowd above. We all were! You don’t see a single person wearing eclipse glasses. Haha!

I checked to see whether I damaged my eyes with this handy tool. Hooray, I’m not blind.

Finally, here’s a great video of an astronomer on Alaska Airlines capturing the eclipse. Apparently, a group of astronomers got the airline to delay the flight for the best view and the best commentary ever. OMIGOD!

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08.22.17

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janine Huldie

    August 22, 2017 at 10:24 am

    We watched from outside our home, but we had the eclipse glasses as my brother actually bought them for all of us. I seriously didn’t even think to buy them. But since he did I figured we might as well use them. We only got a partial eclipse here, so I never really completely got dark. But still was a fun experience to have gotten to have now, too.

    Reply
  2. Tamara

    August 23, 2017 at 11:22 am

    ha, you know I’m no Trump fan but I thought maybe that was taken out of context. Why would someone be taking his photo during the eclipse, and not watching it??

    We had full cloud coverage here. It was so weird.

    Reply
  3. Patrick Weseman

    August 23, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    Wow, a lot of people there. I just took a photo with my phone and posted it on FB and Instagram. Nothing big, it was the first day of school and I was at work.

    Reply
  4. Dana

    August 24, 2017 at 5:38 am

    We had about 80% coverage, and watched from our deck with glasses on. It was really cool, but watching the live feed on the NASA website was even cooler.

    Reply

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Welcome to my site, derived from an advice column I wrote while getting my MBA. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I give helpful, opinionated advice based on my own experience and from the expertise of my extensive network. For more, click here.

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