Sunday, August 27, 2017

Syzygy or Solar Eclipse ... and Storm




The Solar Eclipse of 2017 is now past. The solar eclipse was also a Syzygy - an alignment of 3 celestial objects like the sun, earth and either the moon or a planet. 

We first learned the word Syzygy because we have a game by that name. It has Scrabble-like tiles, but no board. The point is to use up your tiles while building your own crossword, before the others in the game do.... and to get points. We have really enjoyed that game.  

It was fun to experience the day of the eclipse and put it together with the name Syzygy.




 The day started out by clouding over with storm clouds building and lightning flashing. We wondered if we would even see the eclipse.

The kids and I went to a small lake to take pictures as the storm was quite beautiful. We were hoping it would be done by time of the eclipse, but if it wasn't, we still had some nice pictures of the storm.



Shortly before time for the eclipse, the clouds moved away to the horizon where they formed a solid border all the way around. At least the overhead sky was clearing off.

We had our special glasses to view the solar eclipse. We had 2 pairs for 4 of us to share, so we took turns.

It took a bit for me to get used to holding the glasses tightly over the extended lens of my camera while it was on the tripod. I also had trouble finding the sun while doing so as I had to tip my head WAY back and had to be careful not to catch an unexpected glimpse of the eclipse with my eyes unprotected.I was pleased to get a few pictures and some that I really liked.










































The clouds started to move in again, so I could only get pictures through the clouds and I did not use  the protective glasses since nothing showed through them.  Still I was able to get the eclipse from about all sides and I was pleased.









































































































The clouds moved in much stronger after this picture and while we had a couple more faint glimpses of the eclipse, this was the last picture that was nice enough to share.  I hadn't expected to care that much about the Eclipse, but it was a great time with some of my kids as we worked hard to get photos. It was very cloudy the rest of the day and I think we may have had some more storms. The weather was rather strange that day.

Here are some of the storm pictures from the morning. There was a LOT of lightning, but I didn't get any pictures of that. The clouds were wonderful to see though... it was windy and stormy.






















What a day! We enjoyed it and I hope you did too. Did you see the Eclipse? Did you get tired of all of the "hoopla" over it? We did ... but we were also able to enjoy it.  Thank you for visiting.  I hope you have a great week.  :)  








Other posts you may enjoy:






Lunar Eclipse - Red Moon

Stormy Spring Sky 

LOOK At The Clouds!!! 






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Paula's No Rules Weekend Party
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Totally Terrific Tuesday
Inspire Me Tuesday
image-in-ing
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20 comments:

  1. Awesome photos! We enjoyed near totality at our home. Although watching the moon cover the sun was interesting, the whole experience was awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing your photos!

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    1. Thank you... it was an amazing experience... and I am so glad that my kids and I could take part in watching it. I agree that it was awe inspiring. Thank you for visiting. :)

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  2. Beautiful pictures! We didn't have total coverage but it was neat. You've made a great remembrance!

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    1. Thank you... I'm glad you saw it also... I thought we might miss the whole thing because of cloud cover, but it turned out to just add to the experience. :)

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  3. I never heard the word Syzygy until now. Thanks for your entertaining and informative post, not to mention those fine pictures. You all did sterling camera work.

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    1. It was a new word to me too, when I bought the game at a garage sale. This was the first time that I actually had a chance to use it in real life. Thank you for your very encouraging comment... :)

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  4. Oh lucky lucky you; I'm very envious!

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    1. It was a blessing and I am thankful to have seen it.

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  5. Great eclipse and storm photos! Really cool how the clouds worked in your favor. I learned a new word...now, how on earth do you PRONOUNCE it!? :-)

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    1. Thank you so much! :) Good question... I didn't even think to address that! We have been saying it like SIZ A GEE.

      After writing this, I decided to look it up to be sure and this does seem to be how to say it... although my phonetic spelling probably isn't correct, but it is how it sounds to us. :)

      Thank you for visiting.

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  6. Thank you so much for sharing these pictures! It looks like you were in an awesome part of the U.S to view this! Great pics. I am always amazed by stuff like this:) Love your post!

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    1. Thank you! It was amazing to be a part of something special and unusual like this. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  7. Great shots of the eclipse. I didn't even try it - it sounded so challenging to take good shots. You did it quite well!
    Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2017/08/lucky-shot.html

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    1. Thank you.. I had no idea how to do it either... and was thankful that many of them turned out. :)

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  8. Wow, what amazing photos! Thank you for sharing this milestone at Vintage Charm!

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  9. You obtained some excellent photos! I used a pinhole to view the 80% eclipse we had in South Florida. I am reminded of how my father-in-law won a spelling bee as a child when he correctly spelled "syzygy."

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    1. Thank you! :) I am surprised to hear about the spelling bee and your father in law's win w/ syzygy. No one else has seemed to know the word! I will enjoy sharing that with my family. Also, when you mention South Florida ... and knowing the problems w/ the hurricane, I am praying for your safety... and will look forward to seeing that you have made it through the storms.

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