Mar 4, 2010 11:30am
Total Eclipse of the Sun, 40 Years Ago
EmailThrowback Thursday: Week 5
I’m just going to let the video do the talking here, a 3 minute 40 second segment from March 7, 1970.
It was a rare astronomical occurrence in Mexico — a total solar eclipse that cast a sight in the sky and created an unusual lighting effect on the ground. It was all caught on camera by ABC News.
On set, check out the 1970 graphics. It always amazes me how far they have come.
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The next is coming July 11, 2010.
Posted by: Jourdan Cameron | March 4, 2010, 11:47 am 11:47 am
I remember this eclipse well. I was in 3rd grade, and I bawled my eyes out because my folks insisted that I use the pinhole method to view the eclipse, and by the time my drama show was over…so was the eclipse. Where I was (near Boston) supposedly there wouldn’t be another eclipse till 2024 (“I’ll be 63 years old”), but I saw a good partial eclipse in 1991 in San Antonio, Texas. I see that the 2024 date checks out according to NASA’s website.
Posted by: Paul F. Walters | March 5, 2010, 12:41 am 12:41 am
07 March 1970 was my first total solar eclipse. Can’t believe that was 40 years ago.
But indeed 11 July 2010 is next and will be by 29th! It IS addicting. Here is the next amazing thing coming up:
9-1/2 minutes (!!!) of totality from 39,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean.
Cheers,
Glenn Schneider
Posted by: Glenn Schneider | March 5, 2010, 3:01 pm 3:01 pm
Astronomical occurrence, not astrological. That’s a serious error on the part of ABC News. And what’s this “a day-time solar eclipse.” Solar eclipses don’t occur in the nighttime.
I studied the eclipse from Mexico, and reported on it in National Geographic for August 1970.
Posted by: Jay Pasachoff | March 6, 2010, 7:46 am 7:46 am
I was in the fourth grade during tht 1970 eclipse. It was a strange, exciting, and frightening phenomenon. I remember the warnings about observing the event with the naked eye and the possible burning of the retina if one attempted to. My Dad created some kind of device where we could see the blocking of the sun. Simply amazing. (Dad was always up on those astrominical wonders.)
Posted by: Donna Green | December 21, 2010, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm