Partial solar eclipse

Nancy Kupperian

December 10, 2012

As a child, I saw a 4% solar eclipse using several photographic negatives to look through. I was fascinated and decided I wanted to be an astrophysicist (?). I used to go to the Maryland Academy of Science telescope viewing on the roof of the Enoch Pratt museum in Baltimore to see the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. I decided that man would get to the planets in my lifetime. Of course, I didn't think of robotics. Then I saw a real total solar eclipse in Maine and was so excited, wondering what a cave man would think seeing such a vision. Then, when I moved to the country outside of Baltimore and saw the Milky Way, I was thrilled. It is a shame that we cannot see much of the sky due to the ambient light that man has created. I hope to get to some places where the sky is dark enough to get that view again.