Solar eclipse thrills crowds in California as it darkens swath of countryside
Published in Science & Technology News
Bhavini Lad, an aerospace engineer, was excited to bring her 7-year-old twins and 5-year-old son to Caltech to see their first eclipse. The kids’ bedroom is space-themed, with a replica solar system hanging from the ceiling.
“They love to learn about it because they have the stuff in their room,” Lad said, adding that they’ve talked about how to view the phenomenon safely.
“You don’t look without the glasses because what will happen?” Lad asked her son.
He shouted his response: “You’ll get blind!”
Past eclipses have enabled scientists to study the sun’s structure, provide the first proof of Einstein’s theory of general relativity and even discover helium decades before the element was found on Earth.
Robertson can’t quite put his finger on what stirs such emotions among people who have witnessed a total solar eclipse. During the 2017 eclipse, he said, people in his viewing group were brought to tears by the sight.
“You can see the pictures and the pictures are really spectacular,” he said. “But there’s just no substitute for seeing it in person.”
Times s taff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
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