Solar
Eclipse, August 11th 1999
as seen by Ken Weavers
from Pew Tor, Dartmoor, near Tavistock, Devon
The gradual disappearance of the sun: it was slow at first, starting just as we climbed the tor, at 10 a.m., when the moon began to take away a small arc from its top right edge, from which the arc would inexorably creep diagonally downward. We sat down on some stones, among the multitudes, facing south, to wait and watch. The low grey cloud occasionally thinned to give a ghostly white glimpse of our nearby, partly obscured star, which gives us our warmth, our light and our life. On all the tors and ridges we could see people dotted like ants as they gathered to witness this awesome event. Very slowly did the sun dim and cool, the winds rising, up among those huge ancient rocks - how many other such occasions had they watched down the millennia? By 11, it was distinctly twilight, though the leaden clouds gave us little to see. Mirrors, pin-holes and special glasses were redundant. The occasional cheer was sparked by the faint appearance of the reduced sun as a thinner patch of cloud drifted over it. As the minutes went by, a strange, still atmosphere enveloped the large gathering. At 11.05 it was palpable. There was a deeply moving sensation. Darkness quickened at a bewildering rate. I saw a large bird, searching for a haven, way below. I felt very sad, tingles went up my spine, and I began to weep with an inexplicably profound sense of sorrow.
Is this how doomsday would feel? At 11.10, at last the sun appeared again, quite clear for a few seconds, in the thinnest of crescents between the clouds - perhaps there were Baily's Beads. Then it was gone, the rapid twilight returned, and, a minute or so afterwards, it became absolutely dark. There were whoops and awed cheers from the crowd, flashes of cameras all over the hills, near and far. A pale pink luminosity appeared on the horizon all around. Was there a strange pink sphere in the west, like a setting sun?
And then, quite suddenly, it became lighter again. 'Totality' had spun its designated forty seconds. At 11.15 the light returned, dull and grey as before. There was a sense of release, as the tension, that had been building up for so long, relaxed. Even above the crowd, I could hear the joyful chirping of birds. The sheep below in the valley had clustered together, and were now still. Everyone started to say how marvellous it was, but only a pity it wasn't sunny, perhaps. Personally, I wanted to be away from the crowds, and to feel the experience inwardly. I suppose the end of the world would be akin to this, or the saving of the Israelites. The sense of the sudden loss of the sun had been awesome. It was odd how the light seemed to return more quickly - either an effect of the tension, or our eyes' adjustment, perhaps. After that, there was little glimpse of the sun again, till at 12.20, the small arc of the moon could be seen, now on the far left - the last few minutes of penumbra until 12.35. In retrospect, it was like sitting through a sunset and a sunrise, one immediately after the other, and both occurring at about fifty times their natural speed.
Copyright © 1999 Ken Weavers