This week, in our homeschool, we studied about the solar eclipse. We spent Monday, August 21, 2017, learning about how the eclipse happens and what it is, plus we all got to watch it happen together.
What we did
We are country folks and we have welders in our family, so instead of trying to find special glasses, we used a welding helmet and welding plates to watch the moon move across the sky in front of the sun. It was our first time to ever watch a solar eclipse, so we were pretty excited about it.
Path of totality, 21 August 2017
Since we live in Southern Oklahoma, we were in the ‘80%’ viewing area. We did not get to see the full deal because we weren’t in the path of totality. (Bummer)
What is a Solar Eclipse?
Eclipse Illustration
A solar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up with the moon in the middle. The moon obstructs the view of the sun from earth and the sun casts a shadow on to Earth.
When you are in the path of totality, which is pictured in the chart above, you get to see the full eclipse. During that time, you are able to see the Corona, which is the glow around the sun.
What we observed
In our area it didn’t get very dark, so we didn’t get a chance to observe the animals behavior. It did get dim and the temperature definitely dropped. (And that was nice, because it was really hot!)
We had a nice day getting to take some time out to learn about something that is such a rare event. We are glad that we got to spend the day together watching it and we are looking forward to the next one!
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