All the emphasis on eye safety has left many in the path of tomorrow's event in the dark about the finer points of eclipse viewing.
Here’s what watching two total eclipses has taught my eyes:
1. The better you are dark adapted, the more you will see!
You only get minutes of eclipse viewing in a lifetime, and you risk a dim view if you dazzle your eyes beforehand.
2. Get to the center of the path of totality Every mile matters!
At the edge of the path of totality, the eclipse lasts just seconds and the horizon stays bright. But at its center, the moon's shadow extends beyond the horizon, and midnight reigns at midday for three solid minutes. As with the Milky Way, the darker the sky, the more awesome the sight of the corona.
Cardboard 'eclipse glasses' leak a lot of glare, but the problem is avoidable. Why bedazzle your eyes staring at the midday sky when a live telescopic view of the shrinking sun is a google away
on your cell phone
This is where the art comes in. The sun's baleful surface is a million times brighter than its million-mile-wide corona. Watch a sunset, and the long twilight automatically allows your night vision to develop fully. Totality is not twilight. the sky goes black in the opposite of a flash! The darker the sky the bigger and brighter the corona, so get away from city lights !
Oppenheimer- style bomb-watching goggles are cool, but hard to find. Take even five minutes to dark adapt both eyes with a sleep mask, or one with a piratical black eye patch or cardboard monocle, your patience will be rewarded.
You won't miss much, as you can see the whole run-up in reverse as the sun emerges from behind the moon- it’s the same movie played backwards.
The main event remains the solar corona, and dark adaption is the key to seeing it in all its glory. My first total eclipse, at the calm end of the eleven-year solar activity cycle featured a few red prominences framed by a handsbreath of glowing corona.
The next, close to peak solar activity like this one, was jaw-droppingly different-- a wild mane of corona three moons wide stood out against a sky dark green as a Giotto fresco.
While PBS News Hour has been running eye safety warnings 24/7, it has missed a monumental teaching moment by neglecting to mention that line of bright things that millions are about to see lined up on both sides of the black sun.
It's the solar system. An eclipse is the only time you can see the whole damn thing at once.
Epilog:
Modern UHD cameras image the corona's extent and color far better than the naked eye. Yet no TV channel, NASA's included, took advantage of that exquisite sensitivity by stationing cameras under rural skies dark enough to reveal the Milky Way as a backdrop to the sun's corona.
Dark adaption didn't stand a chance. Instead we witnessed the wanton destruction of night vision by the lights of thoughtless network cameramen, and the mass flashing of selfies as the eclipse lost the battle with streetlights no one thought to turn off for the day.
Only as the eclipse was exiting America did NBC give Houlton Maine town Councilor and amateur astronomer Mark Horvath a chance to name the planets flanking the sun.
