Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Nick, Jacque, Elizabeth & John Kelly, Justin & Holly Eller
Date: April 8, 2024
This once-in-a-lifetime roadside attraction was a major national event. The City of Moraine was in the “path of totality” for the moon/sun solar eclipse making Dayton and Moraine a destination for thousands of people. The next time a total solar eclipse will occur in Moraine will be in 2099. I don’t think I will be around for it.
We had a solar eclipse theme party by eating sun chips while Nick had a sun and moon playlist of songs. Justin and Holly bicycled over to Possum Creek Metropark to watch the eclipse while all of us stayed in my front yard sitting in lawn chairs and drinking rum and Pepsi. The eclipse lasted almost 2 ½ hours with the total eclipse lasting just shy of three minutes. It was a warm afternoon, but the temperature dropped considerably during the total eclipse as streetlights came on, passing cars had to turn on their headlights and flowers (our tulips) closed their pedals thinking the twilight was nighttime. Our experiments: we saw wavy lines on a white sheet and while holding up a colander (Photo#3), the sun made crescent moon shadows on the white sheet. Photos # 4 and #5 show the shadows of the trees during the eclipse and no shadows during totality.
We had a guest visitor from out of town (Photo#6) who donned the special eclipse glasses to protect his alien eyes. Even horror host, The Creeper, stopped by to view the event.
A neighbor told me that only 1 in 10,000 people get to experience a total solar eclipse in their lifetime, so we were very privileged. The great total eclipse photo (Photo #1) was taken and shared by Jeremy Bryant. Justin & Holly took the beautiful solar eclipse (Photo#2) from nearby Possum Creek Metropark.
