Total Solar Eclipse
Kingston, Tennessee
August 21, 2017
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1.
Meredith and our middle daughter watched the total solar eclipse from a pontoon boat on the Tennessee River. They saw nearly two minutes of totality, and it was truly wonderful!
Meredith had spent the weekend in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, competing at the US Rowing Association Masters National Championships. She knew months before that the eclipse would fall on the Monday immediately after the regatta, and that Oak Ridge was near the zone of totality, so she made plans to stay on to see it. Our middle daughter is living a few hours drive away so she came down to join the fun. They met up with other rowing friends, one of whom lives in Kingston, Tennessee.
The partial eclipse before and after totality spanned a three hour period, but the total eclipse was just two minutes in the middle. The entire progression was interesting, and increasingly impressive as light dimmed and temperature dropped, but they found that the full eclipse was radically different from the partial phase. The corona was spectacular to see – two big arms of light streamed off to the right in the sky and one arm to the left. Two planets were out and clearly visible in the dark sky. All around the horizon for 360 degrees there was a red sunset-type glow.
As the darkness fell, the cicadas started sounding off loudly, and they subsided a few minutes later as the light came back up. Cormorants, which had been flying about fishing and otherwise active, perched in trees as if it were night. The group of friends sat in darkness of the sort we encounter shortly before dawn or after sunset – definitely dark, but still able to see, not as dark as midnight. As the eclipse passed off and the sun first started to emerge the “diamond ring” effect burst out.
That day was Meredith’s birthday. She had not planned to tell her friends, but our daughter spilled the beans. As the full eclipse began the group on the boat all sang “Happy Birthday.”
The total eclipse experience was dramatic, and although the physical details can be described, it is harder to convey the feelings it evoked. We can understand now why people who have seen one total solar eclipse often seek out others, and we are going to try to see the next mainland US total eclipse, in April 2024.
Author James Fenimore Cooper reflected in later years on the total solar eclipse he saw in 1806:
I have passed a varied and eventful life, … it has been my fortune to see earth, heavens, ocean, and man in most of their aspects; but never have I beheld any spectacle which so plainly manifested the majesty of the Creator, or so forcibly taught the lesson of humility to man as a total eclipse of the sun.
The experience reminded us of a family gathering long ago, when we saw the annular eclipse in San Diego in January 1992. Annular eclipses are less spectacular than total eclipses, because although the moon is completely in front of the sun, the relative distances are such that it does not completely block the sun’s light. This eclipse occurred just as the sun was setting, which made for a very dramatic sight, and San Diego was the only place on land from which the eclipse could be seen. Meredith’s mother Margaret came down from Los Angeles to see it with us. We went with her and our three daughters – ages 18 months to 7 years old at the time – to watch the eclipse from the western edge of the University of San Diego campus. We sat on what was then an athletic field; the Kroc Peace Center building is located there now. (When Meredith and her sister gathered and scanned photos of their mom just after she passed away, we found this photo of Margaret and Bob with the two younger girls.)