Monday, August 21, 2017

Sunny with 70% chance of obscurity

Every eclipse does not come from Japan.

 It was time to enjoy the solar eclipse in Rochester, NY.  The travel budget exhausted, a trip to the "Path of Totality" was out of the question.  So ten minutes before peak viewing time, a pinhole projector box was constructed so that we could enjoy a visage of the 70% obscured sun.


A fine piece of engineering, don't you think?
My lovely partner, Mary, demonstrating proper projector viewing technique.
Why are there two suns visible?
What planet are we on?


It took far too long, but it finally became apparent that multiple images
were the result of unexpected holes in the corners of the box.
Not all bad, these holes provided different exposures due to their larger size.
Not all good, the larger holes were less well focussed.
Finally got it more or less right
with the pinhole providing the projection.
Pretty good representation of cloud cover, too.
Performance might have been better if this box was used.

Had I been in the path of totality,
I would have had one of these.
Never thought about it before,
but if you ignore the cap text
and consider way the bright yellow surrounds the dark area...

Bottom line?  With 70% of the sunlight obscured, it was a brighter than usual day in Rochester.

-----------------------------

Improvements to be considered

for April 8, 2024


A fine rendition via optics.


A similar approach including pool and beverage.
Maybe the pool is not appropriate for the next eclipse in April of 2024.