Eclipse Experience

By Bob Barbieri

I’ve seen several partial solar eclipses over the years and have always found them amazing, but never had I had the opportunity to experience a total eclipse of the sun… a totality! Everyone who has seen one has said that it is awe-inspiring. I missed the total eclipse that came through Southern Illinois in 2017 and decided that I wasn’t going to miss this one, too.

We were very fortunate that the path of this eclipse was going to pass over Southern Illinois again. My wife and I decided that we would make the trek downstate. We had hesitated too long at the beginning of the year to find accommodations near Carbondale. Since I went to school at Southern Illinois University, I knew there were lots of places to camp in Shawnee National Forest. My old college roommate was also interested in going and went down two nights early to save a great camping spot just up the hill from Cedar Lake.

The morning of the eclipse was perfect, with warm temperatures and only a few thin clouds to obstruct a beautiful blue sky. We found a perfect spot near the lake with an unobstructed view of the sky and set up our chairs to wait for the big event.

The eclipse began around 12:45 pm with the moon moving across the sun from the bottom right. It took over an hour for the moon to creep over the sun. We watched the slow progress with our goofy eclipse glasses until all that was left of the sun was a small slice of orange. One second later, the eclipse reached totality. The sun’s corona burst from around the moon’s shadow, with white streaks shooting in all directions. At a few places around the edge, red spots appeared. These are solar prominences where solar plasma is being ejected from the sun. The sight was breathtaking! As we looked around us, the day had turned to twilight. The temperature dropped, and colors changed to an eerie hue, as if we had put on intense polarized sunglasses. We had a pair of binoculars, which gave an even better view of the eclipse itself. Eclipse glasses are not needed during totality, so we could stare directly at the sun without danger to our eyes. Totality lasted little over 4 minutes, but we could have watched forever. Such an amazing experience that we will never forget.

As we hiked back to our campsite, the shadows from the sun, still partially covered by the moon, showed like little crescents through the trees onto the ground. A surreal sight to cap off a totally astonishing experience. We camped another night in Shawnee National Forest to avoid the traffic going north and were treated to a nice quiet evening in the woods. Even a pair of noisy barred owls seemed to be sharing their experience.