StarDate Susitna 8-11-24, by Kathleen Fleming

August 12, 2024 |

In this week’s Susitna Writers’ Voice, you’ll hear Kathleen Fleming and the same 7 voices of Upper Su residents who went to see the total solar eclipse last April.  This is part 3 of the 5 part StarDate Susitna Eclipse Experience series.  

The Diamond Ring is a spectacular effect at the moment right before and again too briefly after totality. The nice lady with the fancy camera near Linda in Oklahoma, Lynette Keeshan, took pictures of both Diamond Rings. The exposure was just right to also capture a few prominences (flares) around the Sun’s perimeter. In case you were wondering, yes, marriage proposals happen during totality.
The buzzards returned to the peak of the church roof where Holly and her sister were watching the Eclipse. This seems to be their habit just before sunset, which actually wouldn’t happen for another 5 hours! This photo was taken by Merry Stinson the evening prior to Eclipse Day.
The diameter of the sun is only ½ of a degree. You can imagine that if there were this many birds in a 1° portion of the sky, the suddenly dark day must have been full of birds heading to their nighttime roost. Photo by Linda’s new friend Lynette Keeshan.
Karl Swanson took this photo during Totality, revealing the depth of the darkness at midday, a very strange quality of light. The circle of the horizon (if flat and fully visible) would show up as 360° of golden sunset.