We were, sort of, there.
The place to be for the March 29, 2006 solar eclipse was Turkey, but Israel
wasn't all that bad. At about 12:45 it felt as though it was, perhaps, 18:15 -
as though the evening were approaching. Not dark, but certainly not the middle
of the day.
From previous experience of a number of years ago I'd learned
that it was possible to get a good, and safe, view of the sun by gazing through
the insides of two old floppy disks (their original content don't seem to have
much of an effect on the viewing). I did this at the college where I work, inviting
everyone who passed by to take a look as well. It seems that most people aren't
aware that this is truly an impressive sight, but given the opportunity they do
quite a bit of oohing and aahing.
Among the people I invited to take a
look were some graphic artists who had succeeded in photographing the sun while
it was behind some clouds. They then photographed it via the floppy, but (even
I have to admit) the behind-the-clouds photo was better. So, they sent it to me,
and I'm happy to post it here - evidence of today's event.
Go to: Now
you see it ..., or
Go to: Spamming me softly
with his song