First Solar Eclipse of my Life!

Phew... It's been a while, I do apologize for that, but this job has been taking up a lot of my time... And I LOVE it!

This last Sunday, May 20, there was an Annular Eclipse that passed right to the north of Flagstaff, AZ. I've never seen a solar eclipse, so needless to say I was REALLY excited. I got scheduled to work some solar scopes for the event, and after some other people dropped their shifts, I took over the morning/day shift as well.

It was intense... Starting right at 8:30 am, we were swamped. There were two of us working in the visitor center and we had been selling these eclipse viewing glasses that were filtered so that everyone could look at the eclipse through them. They were only $2, so people were buying 6-10 at a time. They would call in to find out if we had any, and apparently we were the ONLY place that was selling these south of the Grand Canyon. We had people call in from Phoenix, saying they would be there later in the day to pick some up. One guy, found out his name was Ray later, had called saying he was coming up later that day and really wanted to get some. Me, being the nice person I am, told him I couldn't guarantee him any, as we were selling them really fast. HOWEVER, I offered him the opportunity to borrow two pairs of mine, (I had purchased a bunch to send to family back in Oregon, and I figured I could help him out... I just wanted everyone to enjoy this celestial event that hadn't happened in the USA in 18 years!). I promptly forgot about this offer, as we were so busy, but more on that later...

My day pretty much consisted of checking people out of the gift shop, answering questions about the solar eclipse and the prime viewing locations, AND answering the phone every 5-10 seconds. When I say 5-10 seconds I MEAN that much time. I actually counted after a few hours of the phone ringing so frequently. I believe only about 3 times did I have 30 seconds in between calls. The phone actually started dying around 2 pm as it didn't have enough time to keep charging because people were calling so frequently! It was a really high energy day! People were calling in from all over the state asking if we sold solar eclipse viewing glasses, but they were doing it in a really frustrating way... "Ummmm... Sooooo... I was wondering if... you were selling... what are those called? Solar eclipse shades? Solar viewing glasses? Do you have any of those? How much are they?" I love answering questions and all, but when there are 10 people IN the gift shop trying to buy things and ask questions, I just don't have time for that kind of stalling. After only 1 hour of listening to questions like this, I started answering the phone, "You've reached Lowell Observatory, retailer of Solar Eclipse viewing glasses, how can I help you?"

EVERY single person who called in laughed and said, "You just answered my question!" I usually responded with, "I know. You and every other person in the state!" (In a very joking manner, mind you. I'm not one to be rude.) Because of this, I was able to answer more questions in a shorter amount of time and help more people. I even made most of the people in the gift shop laugh when I answered the phone like this. There were two girls who called in at one point and when I answered the phone, they said something to the effect of, "Oh no! We must sound like typical tourists! We'll sing you a song when we get up there to make it up to you!" They totally did too! They showed up about 15 minutes later and sang me a quick song about the eclipse and asked me to sign their glasses they purchased. When I pulled out a pen they clapped excitedly, shouting, "He's actually going to do it!!!"

I had a lot of fun joking around and informing the public, and when I found out that there was going to be NO lunch coverage for me OR the other coworker that was with me, I just shrugged, went, "C'est la vie" and continued my intense multitasking. Due to another scheduling mix up, I also ended up giving a tour around 3 pm, which was a nice break from the intense pace that the gift shop was having.

At 4 pm, after the tour (which I ROCKED by the way) I met up with my boss and started helping him set up solar scopes. We got an overview about how the night was going to work and then went to work setting up scopes and trying to get in prime viewing location, as the sun was going to set behind some trees a little bit after the maximum effect. We loaded up some scopes and had to sit in the back of his pickup to move them across campus, and due to my high energy (somehow I kept it up all throughout the 11 hour day I had) I stared waving at everyone around the car as if I was in a parade float. I got laughed at by a coworker to which I responded, "Oh just have some fun!" After setting up the majority of the scopes, Kevin (my boss) and I went to get the 6" brass telescope that Percival Lowell's assistant, Andrew Douglas, took around the Arizona Territory to figure out where Percy was going to build his observatory. This is an amazing piece of history, and the fact that Kevin wanted me to help him with this was really cool! I got to handle a telescope that we RARELY move, and I just felt so honored to be able to help him with that.

6" Brass Telescope that scouted out the prime location for Lowell Observatory.

The eclipse was SPECTACULAR. We had something like 500-600 people attend and I spent the entire time answering questions and helping people view the event. Some astronomers made a big announcement when the actual eclipse started and it was just about the coolest thing I've ever witnessed. Even when it was only around 1/3 of the way through the eclipse, you could tell the air got colder and there was less light outside. Everyone had a creepy orange glow and things just felt... different. I can't even imagine what that must have felt like to civilizations that didn't understand exactly what was going on. It could drive a person mad... We got to watch the progression of the moon in front of the sun and since it wasn't a total solar eclipse, the moon only blocked around 90% of the sun. It was amazing to see with your eyes, and even better through the solar telescopes. I got ONE good picture among the line of people, and just wanted as many people as possible to see this event. I had to move the scope I was stationed at about 6 times to get views in between the trees, and most everyone really appreciated being able to see the best view possible.

 Best picture I could get of the Eclipse through the solar telescope. 

Some strange effect of the eyepiece, but pretty clear!

It is so cool to see people get as excited about this kind of event as they did. It was like a Lady Gaga concert, but for the sun and moon. Astronomy is just SO interesting to me, so I love explaining how these events happen and talking to people about them. After the event, we got to spend some time looking at Venus through the old brass 6" telescope. There was also an older lady who sang all of the staff a song she had made up which was SUPER cute! I made her sing it again later and got a video of it which I'll put on my facebook later. One of my coworkers went up to our boss later and just said, "Thank you for hiring me" to which I agreed with completely!

This job has been the coolest thing I've ever experienced and I have SO many more posts to write about what I've been up to the last few weeks. I'll try and get them done as soon as possible!

Be well, and clear skies!