Thursday 23 July 2009

Solar Eclipse

On Wednesday, I got to witness the longest running eclipse this century. Although it was a total solar eclipse over China, it moved just south of South Korea as it got to us, so in Andong we were able to see it as a near-80% eclipse.

I was teaching English camp at Scott's school when it was set to peak around 11 am, and happily the school was enthusiastic about letting everyone out during its six minute span.

The school passed out strips of red filtered paper, as well as strips of film that were taped triple thick to look through. Scott also brought out the crafty shoebox eclipse viewer, which was a clever way to get the students to stop staring at the sun for so long. Anyway, better than my English lecture to please stop staring at it or you'll get permanent retinal damage children.

I just feel very lucky to have miraculously ended up on the other side of the world so I'd be able to witness a historic solar eclipse. It was absolutely incredible- the last time I remember one, I was in Elementary school in the western hemisphere. This time I was teaching Elementary school in the eastern hemisphere, so it all comes full circle.

Here are a few other pictures I took of it:

(Through a dark purple strip of film- a little macabre.)

(Through the orange strip of film- kinda sci-fi.)

5 comments:

  1. I was wondering how long the eclipse would last in Korea. It was all over the news here but mainly in China and India. Not a mention of Korea.

    Thanks for your great pictures.

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  2. cool - was wondering if you got to see it. hope all's well!

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  3. The height of the eclipse lasted about 5 minutes for us, and it did get pretty dark. The sky looked gray even though there wasn't a cloud in it. Very surreal and very cool. Great pictures!

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  4. It was awsome to see your pictures of the eclipse. It is exciting to see it, even if I could not see it in person. I still love your stories of Korea. You are a very talented writer and my interest peaks more every day. I love the photos you take also, you are such a multi talented person. You make Korea sound so wonderful, that I am going to have to start saving my pennies to take a trip there. Thanks for sharing a wonderful country with me.

    Aunt Helen

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