Next August 12 It will be the first time that many Spaniards see a total solar eclipse. This phenomenon had not been seen in mainland Spain since 1912 and since 1959 in the Canary Islands, so only Canarian people of a certain age have been able to see one without having to travel. For the rest, the only Spaniards who have been able to see one of these phenomena so far are the eclipse chasers. Those people who travel around the world only with the intention of enjoying the magnificent spectacle that the Moon gives when it steals the daytime prominence from the Sun by placing itself in front of it and blocking its light for a few minutes.
One of those people is Leonor Ana Hernandezan amateur astronomer, scientific communicator and astronomical illustrator, who has been traveling for many years in search of new eclipses. His first time was in 1999, in Hungary. Since then she has seen four total solar eclipses and is overcome with the desire to travel in search of more. From each one of them he treasures something in his memory, a small detail that has remained engraved in his mind in a very special way.
For my part, I have never seen a total solar eclipse. Yes, I have witnessed a partial one, but I have never seen the Sun set completely. This summer will be the first for me and the truth is that, after talking to Leo, as she likes to be called, I’m looking forward to the moment.
The four eclipses of Leo
For Leo it all started when she was a girl. “I loved astronomy and when my father found out that there was an association near where we lived he told me: daughter, at least I’ll take you there, with people who like the same things as you,” she remembers. “There I began to learn more and get informed about eclipses and of course, I read about the people who have seen themI saw images and thought that I would love to see what everyone describes, to experience that sensation of the lunar night in the middle of the day.”
With that clear objective, he began to save until In 1999 he had his first opportunity. In fact, he made the trip to Hungary with colleagues from that association in which he had begun to develop his interest in eclipses. “As many of us as possible from the association organized a joint expedition to see the solar eclipse,” he recalls. “The experience marked me and at that moment I knew that whenever I could or life allowed me, I would try to travel to see more.”
Seven years later, in 2006, it was his turn to see a new total solar eclipse in Türkiye. This time it was a more intimate trip, with only three people, and he also remembers it with great affection. “We decided to go to the top of a mountain and we were alone, there was pure silence,” he says with a smile. “That silence and that transparent blue sky that I saw left me extremely shocked.” Remember that the emotion was so much that I couldn’t stop crying. “When it was over, tears of joy fell down my cheeks, I couldn’t contain them.”
For the next one he didn’t wait that long. In 2009, traveled to Chinathis time on an expedition with a large group of people. It was a complicated occasion, because it coincided with a monsoon that clouded the sky, completely covering the eclipse, which could have lasted six minutes. “We covered the telescopes with whatever we could: ponchos, hats, raincoats… The rain was brutal and we said: how could we have been so unlucky?” However, then something happened that Leo describes as almost magical. “It seems that the heavens heard us, there was a moment when it stopped, a clearing appeared, that clearing opened and we could see the black ball of the Moon,” he remembers. “It opened up enough that for a minute and a half or two minutes we could see it. Then it got cloudy again, but at least we could see something.”
Even so, and despite all the beauty he saw in his first three eclipses, Leo is clear that remains with the total solar eclipse of the United States in 2017. For her it was very special because on this occasion she made the decision not to take photos, but to lie down and look at it and draw it.
Leo, lying with the materials to draw the eclipse
“I would stay with the one from 2017, because I made the decision not to take photos“explains Leo. “The time you spend with the camera makes you very angry, so I decided to take some testimonial photos, with the camera working alone, but I lay down and observe it, observe it, observe it.” In addition, he devised an action plan that began even before totality. “If you do not have eyesight adapted to the darkness, just like at night, you cannot see the subtle details of the solar corona, so I spent the previous minutes with sunglasses so that my eyes were adapted to a dark time.” Of course, when he looked at the Sun during the partial phase used approved glasses. He only used the sunglasses to look at the environment.
Once the adaptation began, the materials were prepared. “I lay down, prepared my notebook and a piece of cardboard and captured a nebulous background with a circle to delimit the hole of the Moon, those They were the most beautiful and wonderful minutes I have experienced in a long time.“And the time came. “When you draw something you have to focus a lot on the details and that’s when your eyes really start to see,” she points out. “Normally we look, but we don’t see everything we can, because we go from one place to another in a more superficial way.” She focused on what she wanted to draw. “It was my most incredible eclipse just because of everything I could see in the crown with vision adapted to the darkness.” That’s why she keeps the drawing she made that day with great affection. “I feel like it I connected emotionally in such a way that I find it something difficult to overcome.”
What does it feel like to see a total solar eclipse?
In reality, depending on who we ask this question, they will possibly answer very different things. But the truth is that, whatever it is, there must be something to hook so many people. Leo describes it as a unique moment, which It is etched in your memory and always leaves you wanting more.
“The animals They think that night is coming and they become agitated, the birds flutter excitedly, they sing a lot, the dogs bark, the temperatures drop, the colors around you change, the shadows are different from any you have seen before… And then there are all the details of the solar crown. It is something so magically visually wonderful that you need to fill your retina as much as possible because you know that maybe you will not be able to see another one for a long time.
What will be next?
We might think that the next total solar eclipse that Leo sees will be this August 12, but in reality she will not travel to the strip of totality, precisely for the love of eclipses. For her, the opportunity to see an eclipse is something so wonderful that she wants to help other people feel the same. Therefore, it will remain in the Astrohita Foundation Observatorywhere he works as head of the training and dissemination area, as well as in the maintenance of the observatory and the installation of specialized instruments.
“We encourage everyone to travel, but we know that there are many people who cannot“People who are older or for whatever reason will not be able to travel and will be left at the gates of totality.” They believe that these people also deserve to enjoy the eclipse, even if it is in that deep partiality that they will have in Astrohita. “We trust that if there is haze, the little bit of sun that remains will dim enough, the experience will be rewarding and we will feel very good about bringing science and emotions to the people.”
As she herself says, “it will be a small sacrifice, but it will be worth it to make all those people happy.” And that has been another of the great emotions that Leo has experienced in each of the eclipses that he has been able to enjoy. The urgent need not to keep all those wonderful emotions to herself. Now you have the opportunity to make that wish come true.
Image | Leonor Ana Hernandez
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