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Bear Lake State Park, North Bear Lake Boulevard, Garden City, UT

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Bear Lake State Park, North Bear Lake Boulevard, Garden City, UT

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Bear Lake State Park, North Bear Lake Boulevard, Garden City, UT

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I was at Bear Lake State Park (Utah) on August 21, 2017, to take first Dark Sky measurements for the park and to ask Eclipse-watchers to come to the first Dark Sky program at the park. I spent the time of the actual eclipse at a nearby restaurant that was having an Eclipse Party with Eclipse-themed meals and beverages and giving out free Eclipse glasses. Everyone at the restaurant had a great time and we had a great turn out at the park for that first Dark Sky program. Also, the park came in at what used to be classified as Silver Tier Dark Sky back in the day.

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Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Fort Laramie, WY

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Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Fort Laramie, WY

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Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Fort Laramie, WY

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J Em, WY - It was a phenomena shared by the world. A gathering of strangers in even stranger places for a positive and collective moment of wonder and awe.

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Homestead National Historical Park, Nebraska 4, Beatrice, NE

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Visitors enjoyed learning about NASA's work on Earth, Moon, Sun and the rest of the universe, and engaging with our science and outreach staff. 

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Homestead National Monument of America, Beatrice, NE

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Homestead National Monument of America, Beatrice, NE

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What an amazing experience this was. Sharing the thrill of observation of this  celestial event that united people from all sorts of backgrounds, beliefs, identities. There was just joy, no unhappiness evident, just everyone together for a fun, educational experience.  We had something like 20,000 people at this tiny park, overflowing into the small burg of Beatrice, NE. Everyone had eclipse fever, but people were patient with the long lines, with camping in local yards and farms, and with each other. This event helped us internalize that we are all together on this one planet that sustains us – we are all the same under the sun.

During the eclipse I had a very real sense of riding through space, a sense of the motions of the solar system that I’d not experienced before. And talk about drama! In the half hour or so just before the eclipse began, a thunderstorm began making its way toward the park. We all got rained on, and then as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds the crowd would boo or gasp and cheer, and chanting began to try to push the clouds away. And just in the nick of time, we saw it. WOW.  Cheering, whooping, hollering! This was a celebration of life, physics, and humanity in time and space.

We were a bit overwhelmed with the interest of the visitors in all things NASA. The local townspeople were extremely welcoming. Our crew stayed at the home of a local couple who also rented out their yard for eclipse campers. So, we got to meet people in more relaxed setting and brought NASA content to people in a very personal and meaningful way.

We recruited NASA scientists and outreach staff from each science division; they presented at the HOME events and assisted in our large tent with handouts and activities. And of course the Park rangers and volunteers were awesome.

It was entirely worth all of the hard work before, during and after the event!

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Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah 313, Moab, UT

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Using pinhole projections for viewing a partial eclipse

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I believe this photo is from 2012. I was a naturalist and dark sky ranger at Dead Horse Point State Park in Moab, UT. We discovered just a day or two before that a partial eclipse would be visible from the park.

Knowing we would not have time to order glasses, we went to the shop, found some old PVC pipe lying around, and fashioned these pinhole projectors. We used duct tape on the end facing the Sun and poked a small hole in the tape. Near the people, a large cutout was made on the bottom of the pipe so they could look in to see the projected image of the Sun. They are holding a white paper to the bottom of the tube where the Sun is visible.

It was an incredible way to engage visitors in space science during the daytime. We also used this opportunity to connect visitors with the resources within the park. Most were not aware there was an eclipse happening. So incredible!

The eclipse strips away all the labels we wear daily, unifying us as Earthlings experiencing something profound. Joy was palpable on all of our faces. Awe filled our hearts. We could feel our place in the solar system, in the universe. It made everything that I had been worried about before dissolve into mist. I was reminded that my daily worries were minor in the grand scheme.

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600 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20560, USA

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Observing the partial eclipse with a cracker and 80,000 of my closest friends

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Eclipse Party at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

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Eclipse Party at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

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We had a huge eclipse party across Washington, DC, with solar telescopes at the National Air and Space Museum, the National Mall, the National Zoo, plus activities and shows and big stacks of eclipse glasses and streaming views from elsewhere in the country.  It was hot with broken clouds. Along with my colleagues I was stretched a little thin after days of hosting long lines of people wrapping around the building to pick up our remaining eclipse glasses.

But the mood as the eclipse started was so cheerful. People were patiently waiting in the heat, and starting to notice the image of the eclipse in the dappled shadows under the trees. I was cruising around the building checking who needed help and showing people how to project a view of the eclipse through the holes in my cracker.

Near maximum eclipse (which was around 82%, so the Sun looked really dramatic) everyone just stopped and looked up with their glasses. Thousands of people inside under the glass skylights, outside all around the building and on the National Mall, entranced. It was almost better that the clouds were coming and going because when the sun broke through the clouds, there was a huge gasp through the whole crowd. I had the biggest grin on my sweaty face. That pulse of excitement through the crowd was as thrilling to me as seeing the bizarrely crescent-shaped Sun.

Soon after maximum eclipse there was a snap thunderstorm and people cleared out quickly - that's when this picture was taken. I checked in with my colleagues and we swapped stories. It was a difficult time for the country, and it felt like we all really needed that, a day of celebration when everyone could look up together at the sky in awe.

I was also enormously hungry, so it was time to eat my cracker!