It may be that the best part of the 2024 Solar Eclipse wasn’t the eclipse at all, but the feeling of sharing a unifying connecting event as a community – especially since we’re being buffeted daily by our current polarization.
It was a treat to scour the Internet in search of some of the best photos shared online celebrating such an epic event.
But given how incessantly a certain politician spews falsehoods, maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising that the much-anticipated eclipse was somewhat eclipsed by a misconception.
An X-Tweet that went viral falsely claimed that the most stunning photo of the 2024 eclipse was taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
NASA with the most beautiful image of the solar eclipse #Eclipse2024 🥇 pic.twitter.com/cIxDRqddSz
— Jerry Avenaim (@avenaim) April 8, 2024
This, despite the fact that in the week prior to the April 8th eclipse NASA took pains to explain that the JSWT would NOT being taking any photos of the eclipse because it could not withstand the heat and light generated. Heads Up: There would be NO JWST photos of the big event!
Count us out of this! Webb's infrared optics detect extremely faint heat signals, and the Earth, Moon, and Sun are *all* much too bright and hot for us to ever look their way. It's why we have a sunshield: https://t.co/tTGIWqFAz8 https://t.co/wRTZNO4i6u
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 3, 2024
Even more outlandish is the fact that the viral tweet celebrating the “JSWT photo“ is NOT actually a photo, but a hand-drawn homage to an actual photo of the eclipse – AND it was of the 2017 total eclipse!
The inspiration for the drawing was a composite of 35 HDR images of the 2017 eclipse taken by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer who has a PhD in the field of Scientific Photography.
And the artist who was inspired by his photograph was Cathrin Machin who posted an Instagram time-lapse video of her 10-day project to hand-draw a reproduction.
So, let’s begin our journey with a few close-ups of the eclipse – from both 2017 and 2024.
Another favorite way of commemorating the 2024 eclipse was by taking a series of pictures – essentially a time-lapse memorializing the event.
Lots of folks felt the urge to put their own unique brand to the event in fun ways.
And Americans from across the country shared their take on the epic event by posting how they marked this special occasion – whether by projecting telescopic images for all to enjoy, daredevil aerobatics or memorializing its singular natural beauty.
I can’t help but feel that we’d all be well-served to remember the feeling of such a unifying event by taking a step back to enjoy the “Big Picture” that swept across our Big Blue Marble …
