Eclipse fails to compare to `mother of all eclipses'
As the moon began to cover the sun I was able to see it through the gigantic telescope. Once almost covered I could see the Baily's Beads, forming a ring and then came the much anticipated Diamond Ring effect; a single Baily's Bead, shining like a brilliant diamond set into a pale ring created by the pearly white corona. It was the signal that Totality was about to start.
I missed this week's eclipse. Forgot until the last minute to get the special glasses to view it. It didn't bother me much that I was going to miss it because I had seen the mother of all eclipses in 1991, in La Paz, Mexico.
My cousin Pete had a house in La Paz at that time and I agreed to rent a room from him for the eclipse. La Paz was right in the path for totality, which was going to be roughly seven minutes long!
Two fellows also rented a room so the five of us crammed into Pete's old Country Squire station wagon loaded with goods for Pete's house, including a picnic table, turned upside down on the car's roof. We looked like the Beverly Hills Hillbillies.
Who drives from L.A. to La Paz, Mexico?
The journey was long, hot and without too much drama.
The house was nice, clean and being the only female, I got the biggest room with an en suite bathroom. Very cool. Well, not “cool” for it lacked AC.
Our first few days leading up to the eclipse were packed with sailboarding (Pete also had a sailboard shop in La Paz). Turns out I was the best at that sport; the two guys kept falling off. Pete claimed that females have a better sense of balance. No matter, sailboarding was a blast!
The day of the eclipse, we headed out to a house by the Gulf of California. On the way, I spotted a place on a hill with a bunch of telescopes. “That's where I'm going!” As soon as Pete stopped the car, I jumped out and ran to the house on the hill.
Scores of people surrounded the large backyard pool with tons of telescopes. One taller than me!
I met a fellow from JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) in Pasadena. Two guys from Japan. A couple who were eclipse chasers and had seen 13 eclipses. They said that this one in La Paz was supposed to last roughly seven minutes.
That really didn't mean much to me as it was my first eclipse. I had no idea just how long seven minutes would be.
People told first-timers like me what to expect and then it started happening. There was a murmur amongst the crowd.
“Shadow bands” moved across the water, coming towards us; thin wavy lines of alternating light and dark that can be seen moving and undulating in parallel. People shouted, “It's coming! It's happening!”
The sky became dark enough for the street lights to come on.
As the moon began to cover the sun I was able to see it through the gigantic telescope. Once almost covered I could see the Baily's Beads, forming a ring and then came the much anticipated Diamond Ring effect; a single Baily's Bead, shining like a brilliant diamond set into a pale ring created by the pearly white corona. It was the signal that Totality was about to start.
Totality lasted a glorious six minutes and 53.08 seconds. Enough time that people with the best telescopes could share the close up sight with others.
There wouldn't be another longer total eclipse until June 13, 2132.
The same effects happened in reverse, giving us another “show.” It was so beautiful, I thought my heart would burst.
After it was finished, the crowd was gobsmacked. Old timers couldn't stop talking about it. I grabbed my video camera and walked around interviewing people. I remember, like a crazed idiot, a hyper jumping bean, a squirrel trying to find its nuts, saying to everyone, “It was better than sex!”
Still to this day my heart races just thinking back on it.
What was a girl to do? Start chasing other eclipses? Find the tape from the video interviews I took? Perhaps plan for the one in 2132!