FRIDAY SURPRISE: Out, damned spot!

Friday, September 26, 2008 Filed in: Friday Surprise!, Completely irrelevant

The only total solar eclipse I've ever seen was in 1979. I was a high school senior and a serious science buff (did that make me a geek or a nerd? I've never been totally sure.) The solar eclipse was a big deal, being the first visible in the Pacific Northwest since 1918.

It was fascinating to watch the solar shadow run across the landscape, plunging our high school into darkness for those few minutes - then just as quickly receding to leave us in daylight again. It was easy to see how primitive peoples could be scared out of their skins by such an event!

It left me wondering, though - what did it look like from space? Thanks to the Mir space station, we can see.

Pasted Graphic 30

Read more about this picture at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site.

-=[ Grant ]=-

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