Sat, Oct 14 2023 - Midday Hike + Safe Solar Eclipse Viewing! at Frazier-Rowe Park (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Charlie Cottingham Participants: Charlie Cottingham, Shirley W, Lee W, Huiling, Fred J, Mark W, Ann, Donna P, TracyE, Liz, Kristi

Click for Album

 Thankfully Saturday's overcast morning sky became mostly blue by midday, giving us ideal fall hiking weather and memorable views of the much-publicized solar eclipse at Frazier-Rowe and its pretty adjoining park, the Coralwood Nature Preserve.  It was fun having both newly active AOC members and several longtime Club veterans in our friendly group.  Our solar-filtered eclipse glasses & binocs worked out well for viewing the progress of the eclipse's successive partial phases.
  Right on cue (at the advertised ~11:45 AM "first contact") we noticed that the moon had taken a small dark "bite" out of the sun as it began sweeping downward across it.  By 1:15 PM the eclipse had reached it maximum darkness with the now-crescent-shaped solar disc ~53% shadowed by the "otherwise invisible" new moon.  As we continued observing from other clearings along the trails the bright upside-down "solar smile" was fattening again as the moon began its exit off the lower left edge of the sun. By ~2:50 PM (~3 hours after first contact) the final "lunar bite" had disappeared as the memorable partial eclipse ended for us and other metro Atlanta skygazers.  Eclipse watchers in a narrow "swath" of the USA from Oregon down thru Texas were treated to a bright "annular" ring of sunshine that completely encircled the dark moon at mid-eclipse.
  As on past outings LEE WANG has outdone himself once again by capturing the spirit and highlights of this event in a colorful "ReLive" video - complete with an uplifting musical score and satellite-view record of our hike route.  As usual Lee includes close-ups of beautiful flora & fauna that we admired along the way.  Thanks also to ANN ROGERS for sharing dramatic eclipse photos (toward the end of LEE's video) that she took through a dark lens of her eclipse glasses.   I'm sure you'll enjoy the video - just 2-1/2 minutes long - by clicking here and then clicking the "Play" arrow:  https://www.relive.cc/view/vxOQQgWXk2O
  - Posted by Charlie Oct 14 & 15