Total Eclipse of the Sun

OL' SOL:  It was a grey and dreary day in Seattle, but the sun was definitely on the top of our minds todaym since we knew a total eclipse was on tap for this afternoon.

Unfortunately, it wasn't something we'd be able to see firsthand, as the path cut across a small part of Australia and New Zealand and large swaths of the Pacific Ocean. But thanks to the magic of the Internets, we got to enjoy it anyway. 

While waiting for the eclipse we watched a primer regarding the event on UStream. And to get us in the mood, we listened to "The Sun Song," by the Chromatics. They're an acapella group originally formed in 1993 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  For years now they have been singing astronomically correct songs. :) 

Starting around noon, I started channel hopping for the best eclipse coverage. Since it was cloudy, we hopped around to a few different Web sites to check out their live coverage.  Clouds, clouds everywhere. We checked the Panasonic coverage  (they had two streams!), the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef feed on UStream,  and even the University of North Dakota's eclipse chasing team (http://www.sems.und.edu/Eclipse_Video.php). 
Clouds for everyone. Boo!

By and large, the best coverage seemed to be from the Slooh SpaceCam. They had multiple people (Patrick Paolucci, Bob Berman, Lucie Green, Matt Francis and Paul Cox) live on a Google+ hangout and many video feeds on their screen. 

Mercifully/miraculously the clouds parted just as the total eclipse occurred  w00t! Even via the Internet it was a superdupercool thing to see!

As it all went down, we talked about how absolutely freaked out people must have been before we had the science and knowledge of what, exactly, an eclipse is. 

It's pretty magical that the moon is 400 times closer to us than the sun, and it's 400 times smaller than the sun, which makes it a perfect cover in the rare event of a total eclipse. 

During the eclipse I asked the kids what they suppose people thought of such a dramatic event back before they had the science to explain it. Christian was within earshot and he said, "That's why religions were invented." 

We talked about this and that a bit and I cued up some great eclipse folktales for them via NASA. 

Storyteller Jordan Hill related eclipse folktales from Mongolia, Turkey and West Africa. They were all different and fascinating. After we listened to them, I asked the kids to come up with their own eclipse inspired folk tales. Here's CJs version. ... 

Before we existed, there were two different living beings: Gallelo and Ecteson., and one entity, Space. One day, Gallelo wanted to find someplace to live, and Ecteson thought the same thing. When Ecteson was hungry, he would create something, then feed on it. So, he created the earth and all the things we have now, and he would share a tree to eat with Gallelo. After a long time, Gallelo and Ecteson created the sun and moon, but Space was angry because he was being ignored. So every time he gets the chance, (which very rarely happens) he will block out what Gallelo and Ecteson created to get attention. So CJ's story neatly explains both lunar and solar eclipses. Nice! Here's Bee's fable. ... Once upon a time the Sun was just a lonely star in our universe, sitting there with nothing to do when alas, the planets formed. Once they formed, the sun wasn't so lonely. But Sun thought the planets might feel lonely, so far apart. So the Sun captured small asteroids and put them together to make the moons. One day, the Earth, having no moon, but life, requested a moon. sadly, this moon was formed between the Sun and Earth, creating an eclipse.  The humans on earth thought this was the sun, leaving them. Soon the sun appeared again, and a long time after, the Moon decided to play a joke on the humans and go in front of the sun again. And once he did, the humans thought once again, this was the sun leaving. They prayed for Sun to come back, and the moon revealed the sun again, teasing the humans. MORAL: Don't trust the moon. when he causes eclipses, he's just a big trickster. EXPERIMENTAL The kids were tasked with creating an invention involving carbon rubbings, mirrors or fingerprints. They brainstormed an idea together to make a periscope built for two. Yesterday we hit the Dollar Store to get some mirrors. This morning, the kids folded and taped the periscope into shape.  Happily, it worked as they planned. Here they are, hiding behind the couch, spying on Kirby, who's across the room, relaxing in the mid-century rocker.