K n e w I H a d t o b e R e a d y
Janet Kuypers
8 / 2 2 / 1 7
Got a pair of those solar sunglasses the other day.
Challenged myself to stare at the sun — and really,
that’s such a ridiculous concept to begin with —
but wearing these glasses made me blind as a bat
‘til I walked outside and guessed where to look.
And then I found it. And I was awe-struck.
And even though I didn’t create these glasses,
even though I didn’t create this scientific tool
I suddenly felt like I could challenge the science gods.
Yeah. Try to stun me again. I dare you.
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For the past eighteen hours, we drove six plus hours
each way to get to the focal point, for the longest
duration, of the total eclipse of the sun. I had a filter
for my camera, I even had my solar sunglasses, so
I was ready for what I guessed would be a half-hour show.
And I may have been mistaken, it may have taken
three times as long to watch the moon move
it’s way in the opposite direction over how our sun
dances along our daytime sky. So every few seconds
I’d take a picture, then slide on those solar glasses
to look up, to see that crescent move with my own two eyes.
Clouds moved in for a bit, I was in a panic, wait,
those evil weather gods can’t make me miss my chance,
but as the clouds parted the light cloud mist danced
in front of my sun and moon, adding wisps to their show.
But I knew I had to be ready, it started getting darker,
the winds picked up, and I knew that when my moon
and sun would reach that total eclipse, that it would last
for less than two minutes — so I had to remove the filter,
change the aperture and f-stop, and try to point and click.
And... I think I did a pretty good job, but all I could think
when I saw that white ring of the sun’s solar flares
each tease their way around that moon from
trying to block the sun from one of it’s children...
All I could think was that this ring of fire and radiation
was so crisp and vivid, and that it reminded me
of the intricacies of the human eye, when the iris
colors dance in a circle like molecular fireworks,
or petals of a flower in full bloom. Taken aback,
it was all so breathtaking — and then I realized
that there are as many atoms in the human eye
as all constellations in the known Universe.
If seeing the sun’s corona made me see the cornea
with it’s intricate iris, it made me wonder.
They say the eye is the window to the soul,
so is my seeing my sun at it’s most naked moment,
was my sun somehow sharing with me it’s secrets too.
I’ve been trying to figure out my sun’s message,
and I’ll keep trying to take science on, always
daring it to finally, fully reveal itself to me.
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