Women in STEM look up to the sky
The “Ring of Fire” created by the 2021 solar eclipse united the science community for a day.
The science community had an exciting week last week as the moon aligned with the sun on June 10th.
The 2021 solar eclipse was visible in the northern hemisphere and had people around the world watching for it.
The last time an eclipse created this much excitement in America was in 2017 when a solar eclipse swept a shadow across the United States. It amazes me that when two objects we see every day in the sky align a certain way, it creates so much joy and brings the science community together.
Space fans were tweeting about the eclipse all day sharing their photos and videos with excitement. Some people were even predicting the sight beforehand and comparing it to what they actually saw. Others were explaining the occurrence using diagrams and objects.
A few people even made their own pinhole projectors to see the phenomenon. Pinhole projectors allow you to project the sunlight through a tiny hole to see the sun’s outline without looking at it directly. People were eager to share their DIY projectors looking for the moon to block out part of the sun’s outline.
Eclipses are fairly common, occurring two to five times a year with total solar eclipses occurring every year and a half. This doesn’t stop science fans from getting excited when one is visible from their location though.
As I scrolled through my Women in STEM Twitter list throughout the week, it was neat to see everyone turn their attention to the sky for one day. My feed was suddenly filled with beautiful photos of the sun. A whole community was looking at the same thing and found beauty in the nature around us. No debates, no controversies, just an agreement that the sky does some amazing things.
