30 de diciembre de 2020

(Near) total eclipse of December 14, 2020


A few days ago there was a partial eclipse here in Buenos Aires (79% <<<< 100%). It was a total eclipse about 600mi from here, but due to the pandemic and work we could not go to see it.

It was almost at noon. It was weird because everything looked normal but in low light. The sky had the normal light blue color, it was not gray like a cloudy day or reddish like a sunset. Everything had normal coloring, but in low light.

I did not had time to build a homemade camera obscura, but the leaves of the trees form small holes that have the same effect, and you can see the image of the Sun in the shape of a crescent (moon) on the ground. (It is a very strange combination of words.) With the wind the little holes move, appear and disappear, so there are dancing crescents. The effect is very nice.

Photo of shadows during the eclipse.

For comparison, I tried to take a few additional photos three days later at the same time, because it's always good to have something as close to a control group as possible. I didn't find a photo of the previous spot, but I like the it anyway. So here are two photos comparing a nearby site.

Photo of shadows during the eclipse.

 


Photo of shadows during the eclipse.