Topic: eclipse

Under a nearly cloudless sky, dozens gathered in Camana Bay to see the solar eclipse on Monday, with the Cayman Islands Astronomical Society hosting a free viewing.  

Occasional cloudy skies and windy weather in Cayman late on Sunday night did not deter sky watchers from gazing upward to view and photograph the super blood wolf moon eclipse.

Eclipse chasers from Cayman traveled through Missouri and Illinois searching for clear skies to view Monday’s eclipse. Cayman Islands Astronomical Society members Karen Perkins and Petro Kotze joined the Society’s former president Chris Cooke and his family, who traveled from the U.K., and three astronomers from Trinidad and Tobago to watch the solar phenomenon.

Dozens gathered at the University College of the Cayman Islands observatory Monday afternoon to celebrate an honored guest who never appeared. The day’s highly anticipated solar eclipse hid behind the clouds, as remnants of tropical wave Harvey dampened Cayman’s viewing plans.

An estimated 500 million people — including many in Samuel Clemens’s (aka, Mark Twain’s) home state of Missouri — will witness today’s total solar eclipse. Many Cayman residents have joined the throngs traveling to the US to witness this awesome and rare event.

It can be tempting to cast your eyes skyward to watch next week’s solar eclipse, but eye experts and the folks at NASA all warn: Don’t do it.

On Monday, Aug. 21, millions of people across America will turn their eyes toward the sun to experience a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience – a total solar eclipse. Although Cayman is not in the path of the full eclipse, a partial one will be visible from here. In Cayman, viewers will be able to see the moon block out 55 percent of the sun.

Much has already been said in the U.S. media about the total solar eclipse happening on Aug. 21 this year, and much more, I’m sure, will be said as we get closer to the day. It is estimated that 12.2 million people will have the opportunity to see the event from their house or place of work, and 88 million people are within a day’s driving distance.