Great Total Solar Eclipse 2017

Today was eclipse day. We've been ready with our eclipse glasses for weeks now and it's all anyone's been talking about so I was ready for it to get here already. I wasn't positive the glasses I bought were certified (until this morning when I finally looked it up) but I was double prepared because I made sure to buy boxes of cereal to make our own just in case. I found out on NASA's website that our particular glasses were fine though so that's what we ended up using.



The solar eclipse was way cooler than I had thought it would be. It's weird when you hold the glasses up to your eyes because you can't see anything at all. I mean, it's totally black. But, when you hold them against your face and look at the sun, you can see the eclipse and that is so neat! Here in Maryland we only got to see 80% of the eclipse but my family in South Carolina were in the line of totality so they had complete coverage. My nephew Jaron took some amazing photos and told me I could post them here to share. :)

After we'd had our fill of staring at the sun, Dakota and I ran down the street to share our glasses with neighbors who didn't have them. I loved seeing other people's reactions! When I asked people if they wanted to use our glasses most of them asked if it was happening right then. They thought it would get really dark so they thought it hadn't even begun! The one's who hadn't realized it was happening at that moment were the most impressed when they put the glasses on and saw the moon covering the sun! It was a fun way to share the moment and Dakota loved letting everyone borrow her glasses.

As we were walking home I noticed the shadows on the sidewalk looked different than usual. It wasn't until I got home and was thinking about it that I realized it was actually the eclipse I was seeing on the ground, not the pattern of the leaves on the trees! I ran back out to get a picture but I didn't end up getting anything great. Here's what I did get though, and if you look towards the bottom right, you can see a moon shape there. It's very light, but it's there. 

The next eclipse that will be in the United States is April 8, 2024. It will be crossing nearer to us than this one but I'm thinking we'll need to pick a really good spot to make sure we get to see the total eclipse.