| Not bad for a Monday There are Mondays and then there is Solar Eclipse Monday! I hope you got the chance to safely view this amazing sky-show. It was spectacular! Along with many others, I not only got to enjoy the show, but the fun vibe down at Centennial Plaza late this morning and into early afternoon. DART and partners hosted "Get MOONED," an alien disco-themed eclipse party. With our new multi-media guru Cassie Knust (whose name you might recognize because she worked for the Daily Press before, as a reporter), I checked out the show, enjoying the awesome tunes of Wowzer; getting a tote bag printed by Mosaic, and watching the kids have fun with Children's Museum activities. I especially enjoyed Bryan Cashion of the Black Canyon Astronomical Society showing me a projected image of the sun on a special telescope. At first, it was a white orb with two tiny dots — sun spots. And "tiny" is a matter of perspective. As Bryan noted, the spots were actually bigger than Earth. As the morning wore on and we moved closer to the roughly 65% totality visible from Colorado, a crescent shadow ate into the projected orb. I popped on some classy glasses handed to me by Dave Frank, and looked up to see the same thing in the sky, in fire-orange and black. But you didn't necessarily need a telescope or special glasses to see what the moon and sun were creating. Bryan showed us through a metal colander: in the shadows it cast were little half-moons. He even used his hands to filter the sun and the shadows cast between his latticed fingers also showed little half-moon shapes. That's a neat trick! Anyway, I hope you had the chance to enjoy the downtown fun and if not, that you at least had the time to throw on some eye protection and look up! We won't see another solar eclipse with this kind of coverage until about 2045. You can check out William Woody's amazing photos here, if you missed it. - Katharhynn, from the Newsroom, wishing you a celestial Monday. (Wowzer revs up revelers at Centennial Plaza.) (Even the alien looked up for the eclipse.)
(The colander cast shadows reflecting the eclipse above. It is hard to see in the photo, but look at the partial circles on the right edge of the shadow, near the shadow of the handle.) (Never too young to learn.)
Speaking of learning ... There are scholarship opportunities! Here's one:
QUICK LINKS | 
No comments:
Post a Comment