98% SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017 - CHARLOTTE

I had planned on taking the day off, to go see the total solar eclipse from Columbia, SC.  However, project stars aligned so that I couldn't really get away.  Toooooo bad.  That meant that I'd be seeing a 98% eclipse, as opposed to a total eclipse.  I was hoping to get to experience the once-in-a-lifetime event with my dad, but that got scrapped.

I had been anticipating it for months.  I had purchased eclipse glasses on ebay months ago, although when the news reports came out of potentially fake glasses, I ended up making pinhole cameras, instead.  It would be a different take on the experience.   Still unique and cool in its own way. 

I woke up feeling lots of excitement about the day.  Even that morning, something seemed different about the sun.  I was excited the whole day.

Fortunately, we were at least allowed a break during our 1-3pm meeting to watch the 2:30pm eclipse for a few minutes.  I had almost given up hope of being able to see it at all. 

With 98% coverage, the sun still looked pretty much like it always does, to the eye (not that I really looked) or the iphone camera.

Looking around at ground level, you'd figure that it was just a cloudy day, for the most part.  It did get slightly more twilighty at one point, but probably nothing like what the total eclipse regions got to experience. 

People were nice and passed around hopefully legit shades. 

I didn't get to try out the pinhole cameras, since I was in a different part of campus than the rest of my friends.  I heard that they didn't really work, anyway, though... I probably make the holes too big.  However, some people shared a manila folder with a hole, which had the same effect.

 

(If you look at the folder on the ground, you'll see a little crescent - so cool!)