— by Ayn Gailey —
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Today the Universe treated us to a total eclipse of the sun, an event in which the moon passes between the sun and earth and blocks all or part of the sun, depending on where one is viewing it from. According to NASA, “today’s eclipse was the first total solar eclipse visible in the continental U.S. in 38 years.”
Orcas Island Library expected 100 to 200 citizens to attend today’s eclipse viewing party, but were surprised this morning to be greeted by what they thought was closer to 1000 visitors. Judging from the dozens of daily calls fielded over the last week by library staff, that number was probably driven by those searching for safe viewing glasses. Afterall, according to experts, viewing the sun with the naked eye during an eclipse can burn your retina, damaging the images your brain can view. It also didn’t help that most online stockists sold out of the glasses.
Equipped with only 50 official viewing glasses provided by the state public library, what could have become a situation full of frustrated patrons, actually became a way to bond with your fellow islander and the few tourists who happened by, too. Librarian Holly King expressed that the viewing event was “A great example of how well our community shares with one another. Those who had their own viewing glasses or a pair handed to them from the library were generous with their neighbors, making sure everyone received several turns to view the eclipse safely.”
The library also hosted a D.I.Y. craft station with recycled materials that included cardboard boxes, foil, paper and tape. Kids and adults joined in at the station to make their own old-fashioned viewing apparatus, which allowed makers to view the sun after it penetrated a pin-hole in the foil and bounced its eclipsing image onto an interior wall of one’s cardboard box.
Other patrons, enjoyed a live feed from NASA broadcasting the eclipse from locations around the world. And, some, like Eastsound citizen Ed LeCocq brought their own makeshift viewing apparatus. For him, a stylish ARC welding mask over a pair of oxy acetylene welding goggles worked just fine.
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Thank you to the library and to the community who came to the viewing. It was awesome! The sun and moon get some credit, but I so enjoyed the sharing of the glasses, the children learning and being excited about science, the library being so generous and so stoic when there wasn’t enough, but when there isn’t enough people share and that was also lovely to behold. Thank you everyone!