this ring of fire

but of course, the annularity wasn't able to be seen here in vancouver. big surprise that sunday was overcast and wet. this is the rainforest of the north, after all.

because of this, sean and i watched the passing of the moon over the sun on the slooh space camera. and although it would've been way cool to view it in person (with protection of course), it still was pretty impressive. 

times captured from top to bottom: 614pm, 627pm, 631pm, 648pm PST

the space camera in california was slightly off centre, so it didn't display a true ring of fire. however, the camera in new mexico was centered on the sun purrfectly. 

ring of fire! 638pm in new mexico

then what was neat-o was seeing the moon pass over the sun, while the sun was setting and being obscured by cloud cover.

cloud cover at 704pm, 708pm and 712pm PST

the last time an annular eclipse was visible in north america was 1994, with the next one occurring in 2023, so it's a big event. but even if vancouver was not draped in clouds and the wet stuff, we would probably have only seen a partial eclipse, as we're too far north of the  path of travel. 

here's what annularity looked like in chico, california:

photo credit: jason halley

and what it looked like in tokyo:

photo credit: reuters/issei kato

i, for one, would've have been delighted to see the all the crazy crescents made by anything casting shadows during the eclipse. 

the universe is amazing.