Watching the solar eclipse next Monday reminded me of two other solar eclipses I've seen. Both occurred in the Midwest in 1994 and 2017.
In May 1994, I was a senior in high school and nearing graduation. The solar eclipse occurred on Tuesday afternoon. I skipped school with two friends named Dave and Ben.
We lived in Dayton and had to drive about an hour north to get a better view.
It was an annular solar eclipse, but it wasn't as spectacular as the annular solar eclipse that will occur next week. The moon was a little farther from the earth than it is now. As a result, the moon appeared slightly smaller and could not completely cover the sun.
Eclipse glass was sold out, so we started calling welding shops looking for welded glass. This glass is intended to protect the welder from the extremely bright light generated during welding. It's also strong enough to protect you from the sun. At least some of it is. Level 14 welded glass was required.
The first few stores were only up to level 10 (the higher, the darker). Unfortunately, levels cannot be easily combined. So, for example, stacking two level 10 glasses will not result in a level 20. They are logarithmically combined.
I thought I could do the math and be safe. But his friend Dave didn't care about my math. I would like to add that we were trying to figure all of this out on Sunday before it was easy to find information on the internet.
Luckily the last store in town had level 14 welded glass and we were fine.
The people at the store, who usually deal with professional welders, were clearly amused that three high school boys had bought glass.
We were driving north and planned to stop at a cornfield at the right time. We were teenagers and didn't really like making plans. To my parents' credit, they were fine with such a vague plan. Needless to say, there were no cell phones or easy ways to stay in touch.
As I was driving, I happened to come across the observatory of the Lima (Ohio) Astronomical Society. We watched the entire event from there. it was a fun time.
My high school was a little strict about absenteeism. Since I wasn't technically sick and my parents didn't lie about me being sick, they allowed me to go AWOL. I skipped school to watch the solar eclipse.
Honestly, this made the whole trip a little more enjoyable. It felt a little rebellious. We made careful personal choices about what was important to us and thought about how to make it work.
I believe all local schools have officially canceled classes for Monday's eclipse. I think that's the right choice. I obviously think watching a solar eclipse is more important than a day at school.
But somehow I want everyone to be able to make personal choices about how they experience the natural world.
christer watson The Fort Wayne native has a doctorate in astronomy and writes about the applications of science in everyday life.