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Crescent eclipse sideshow

What’s behind those crescent-shaped lights

Crescent lights photographed in Jacksonville April 8, at 3 pm. You can see the moon shadows in the gaps of sunlight between the leaves. (Mark Collins)

If you don’t have the time to make a pinhole projector to view the partial eclipse in Jacksonville just watch for the shadows under the leaves of a tree. The gaps of sunlight will transform blurred circles of the sun into an array of unique shaped light shapes that mimic the view from a pinhole projector.

During a solar eclipse, the shadows change revealing crescent shapes of light passes through objects like a tree.

As the Moon passes in front of the Sun, the apparent shape of the Sun is changed to a multitude of crescent images of the solar eclipse all around us.

In contrast to a normal sunny day when shadows appear somewhat blurred, during the partial phases of a solar eclipse, the sunlight is only marginally reduced, and the decrease in ambient light is significant.

Normal shadows before the partial solar eclipse over Jacksonville Monday.

Consequently, the projections of the eclipsed Sun and the shadows become notably sharper and more defined.

In images captured during an eclipse, one can observe the heightened clarity of both the projected images of the Sun and the shadows cast by the tree trunk.

This reduction in ambient light during a solar eclipse accentuates the precision of these celestial projections and shadows, offering a unique visual experience of the crescent shadows.


About the Author
Mark Collins headshot

After covering the weather from every corner of Florida and doing marine research in the Gulf, Mark Collins settled in Jacksonville to forecast weather for The First Coast.

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