People came out to parks, streets and sidewalks Monday, to stare up at the sky. Some were prepared, with cold drinks and lawn chairs, and most were truly prepared, with filtered lenses, eclipse viewers, pinhole projectors, and colanders.
Yes, colanders.
“Why watch just one?” asked Tim Smith as he held up a colander to the sun, casting dozens of miniature eclipse reflections onto a piece of paper in the parking lot of Carmichael’s Hardware in downtown Snoqualmie.
Smith, a science teacher from Massachusetts visiting the area, was not the only one with eclipse-viewing tricks. Scott Dodson, also set up just outside Carmichael’s had a large-format pinhole projector set up for people to view the eclipse, a filtered telescope attached to a camera, and, of course, eclipse-viewing goggles. He also demonstrated a neat trick using only his hands to cast a shadow with a reflection of the eclipse.
Dodson set up his makeshift observatory at the invitation of Carmichael’s owners Wendy Thomas and Bryan Woolsey, and he drew several groups of viewers to downtown Snoqualmie. But there were lots of viewing parties to be found, including at Snoqualmie Point Park, and Snoqualmie City Hall.
At the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, where Boeing Classic week had started, golfers participating in the Rumble at the Ridge took a few breaks to gaze skyward through club-provided glasses, and to wonder if the changing light might affect their games.
Down at the 18th hole, friends Cooper and Kolten, were enjoying their spectacular view of the course and the sky. Both had eclipse glasses and were also monitoring the progress of the event on their phones. Asked if they were out for the eclipse or the golf, they replied, in unison, “Both!”
Seattle Seahawk alumnus Jordan Babineaux tries out his eclipse viewers between holes Monday at the Boeing Classic’s Rumble at the Ridge tournament, a fundraiser for the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll’s ‘A Better Seattle’ initiative. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
A large-format pinhole eclipse viewer, set up outside Carmichael’s Hardware in downtown Snoqualmie, draw a small street party of eclipse watchers Monday morning. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
At Snoqualmie Point Park, Kathy White watches the solar eclipse with her grandchildren, Quin and Anja. (Photo courtesy of Kristin Tetuan)
Using a pinhole projector a man reproduces the eclipse on a piece of paper for eclipse watchers at Snoqualmie Point Park. (Photo courtesy of Kristin Tetuan)
Eclipse watchers gathered Monday morning at Snoqualmie Point Park for an excellent view of the solar eclipse. (Photo courtesy of Kristin Tetuan)
Scott Dodson alternates viewing the eclipse through his heavily-filtered telescope, a pair of eclipse viewers, and a jumbo-size pinhole projecter he created. Dodson brought all his devices Monday morning to Carmichael’s Hardware in Snoqualmie, where people gathered to watch the first solar eclipse in the U.S. since 1979. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
Scott Dodson, back, and Wendy Thomas, front, use different solar filters to see Monday’s eclipse. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
The informal “Dodson Observatory” eclipse viewing party that gathered outside Carmichael’s Hardware, to use Scott Dodson’s different viewing devices to witness, and share, the eclipse. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
Tim Smith, a visiting, science teacher from Massachusetts, used a colander to make dozens of pinhole-projection eclipses. (Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo)
