From Glenn Schneider
Forty-Two years, as an abstraction, seems a long time
ago, but March 7, 1970 (18h 31m 52s UT to be precise) is so
indelibly etched in my mind, it seems but a moment ago. That was
the instant when coronal photons first were imaged upon my
retinas -- and changed my life forever. TSE 1970 was "the first"
TSE (Total Solar Eclipse)
seen by a number of SEML subscribers other than myself too; to
my knowledge including Fred Espenak, Rick Brown, Freddy Dorst,
Bob Slobins, Larry Stevens, Bernie Verreau and I am sure many
others. For me as then a 14-year old, it was about a 12-hour bus
trip from New York City to Greenville, North Carolina, an
overnight in a local Holiday Inn, and then "setting up" on the
football field in the East Carolina University stadium just a
couple of km off centerline. Dawn broke to a fog so thick you
cut it with the proverbial knife - but without worry (well,
mostly without worry) as it "burned off" completely very soon
after sunrise as anticipated leaving steel-blue clear skies with
no hint or threat of cloud -- "in the bag" though one hates to
count on such things, it was indeed one of those rare and
welcome cloud-worry free days. I had been anticipating THIS
event since 1963 (at the age of 7) and in the intervening years
had read everything I could get my hands on about it. I was
"well rehearsed" and "well prepared", or so I thought -
practicing over and over again months and weeks ahead of time
how I would spend my 2m 53s of totality splitting my time
between telescope, binoculars, still and movie cameras and
"naked eye" viewing. Every second planned and accounted
for. With equipment set up hours in advance of CI in situ "trial runs" went
well. One thing I had wanted to do was SEE the umbral shadow
approach, so (today I would consider foolish) took up a vantage
point high on up in the stadium stands to watch for that prior
to CII and practiced a dozen times running down to the field and
my equipment with a minute or two to spare with a sprint times
of about 40 seconds. Amazingly, when the time came, and I saw
the "wall of darkness" rising up over the SW horizon, I didn't
trip as I ran down the stadium steps watching the umbra grow
darker and closer as the seconds ticked by -- and got back to my
equipment all set on the stadium floor with a minute an a half
to spare. I won't recount now that minute and a half which
lasted an eternity (but will comment the shadow bands were
absolutely amazing and as many described for that eclipse with
the contrast of "jail bars"). At CII minus 15 seconds, I pulled
solar filters off cameras, telescope, and binoculars in a single
much practiced motion that took only seconds, then looked again
skywards with binoculars ready around my neck and telescope
pointed at the Sun as the diamond ring gave rise to my first
pre-CII glimpse at the corona that last photospheric bead
diminished. All set and ready to go, and I was then numbed and
overwhelmed as if a bolt of lightening had struck. I froze like
the proverbial deer in the headlights. Nothing, I had read,
discussed with others, of thought I had learned about "the
event" prepared me for the grandeur of what was happening. I
just stood there limp, binoculars dangling around my neck,
telescope unattended, cameras untouched, and just stared at "the
hole in the sky". I could not have moved if I wanted to - but at
that instant I didn't "want" anything. "Transfixed" is far too
inadequate a word. "Stunned" is probably better. Time did cease
to flow, but somehow, before I knew it ... it was over. I don't
think I moved 1 mm or had dropped my purely naked-eye gaze at
totality for even a second of those 2m 53s of totality. I was
literally shaking as the CIII diamond ring grew brighter and the
sky background swamped the corona. It took me many minutes to
recover enough to know it was over and did not re-connect with
the celebrations going on around me until someone grabbed me by
the shoulders and shook me back into the mundane reality of the
time then between fleeting TSEs.
And... THAT (as people sometimes ask) is why I have no photos of
my first TSE, 42 years and 1 day ago. With NO regrets. The mind
did what it knew it had to do - surrender and absorb. And, also,
this is why I always advise anyone who is about to see their 1st
TSE to JUST WATCH -- as if there really was any other choice.
Happy TSE 1970 + 42 years to any/all others who also had their
lives changed on that glorious day.