Looking Down to Look Up

Who knew? The chances of solid cloud cover were roughly 67% for April 8, but it turned out to be a lovely, sunny spring day with no pressing work to do that afternoon. I did not have eclipse glasses on hand, nor did I have a telescope handy. But I did have a strainer and a ring light that I use for Zoom meetings with a phone mount and a remote to click the shutter in the Camera app—I know there’s no longer a shutter, but what is that button called?

A noodle skimmer is a kitchen spoon that has a 4 1/4-inch-diameter, very shallow bowl to scoop things out of a hot pot. It has five concentric rings of holes around a central hole. The holes are roughly 1/8 inch in diameter each.
My eclipse-shadow filter—a noodle skimmer pressed into astronomical service. Photographed on April 20, 2024.

Continue reading “Looking Down to Look Up”