Scenes from the Eclipse in Boston
Photo by Spencer Buell
As the eclipse made its way through Boston on Monday, people took to the streets en masse to take in the rare and captivating sight for themselves. Under mostly clear skies, they peered into pinhole projector boxes, pressed solar viewer glasses to their eyes, or gazed at the sky with fancier equipment, while photographers set up special rigs to capture the sun’s collision with the moon.
In Copley Square, viewers lined the lawn and sidewalks.
It’s like these people haven’t seen an eclipse in years pic.twitter.com/6KNPMgPhW3
— Madeline Bilis (@madelinebilis) August 21, 2017
…Including the Boston team.
Field trip = success. #SolarEclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/3l2avhdA61
— Boston Magazine (@BostonMagazine) August 21, 2017
Keytar Bear was, of course, there to grace the eclipse-viewers at Copley with some tunes. And he was, of course, dressed for the occasion.
Your boy Keytar Bear is out here at Copley in an #Eclipse2017 inspired outfit. pic.twitter.com/0OGJajQoCv
— Spencer Buell (@SpencerBuell) August 21, 2017
Keytar bear rockin his @novapbs eclipse glasses #EclipseDay #SolarEclipse17 @wgbhnews pic.twitter.com/RZcbngAlNT
— Tori Bedford (@Tori_Bedford) August 21, 2017
Bart Foster, of Boston, brought a DIY solar filter he made with sheets of mylar film, which he attached to the lens of a camera that transmitted to his smartphone.
Bart Foster is here with a DIY solar filter on his camera, which is attached to his phone. You can just see the moon touching the sun. pic.twitter.com/r6rg3KDgO5
— Spencer Buell (@SpencerBuell) August 21, 2017
Emerson film production student Lanhua Ma came armed with a pair of strips of black-and-white film.
Lanhua Ma, a film production student at Emerson, is peering at #eclipse2017 through black and white film. pic.twitter.com/SDXh2ZOd7P
— Spencer Buell (@SpencerBuell) August 21, 2017
Some of the more popular viewing spots, like MIT and the Boston Children’s Museum, saw huge crowds.
MIT is ready for an eclipse… 😎 pic.twitter.com/3pGaV4sb6O
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) August 21, 2017
Big turnout for #eclipse watching at #bostonchildrensmuseum. @universalhub pic.twitter.com/87oO4AXRKw
— Brian Iammartino CFA (@BrianIammartino) August 21, 2017
The GOAT also got in on the fun.
Tom Brady, viendo el eclipse. pic.twitter.com/miJhC4xlpx
— New England Patriots (@PatriotsMexico) August 21, 2017
So did state Auditor Suzanne Bump, who shared a picture of herself going “old school” and peering into a pinhole projector made out of a box of Cheerios.
We use sophisticated #DataAnalytics to conduct audits but when it is time to watch the #SolarEclipse my office goes old school #MAPoli pic.twitter.com/rIpJ7tI87d
— Suzanne M. Bump (@MassAuditor) August 21, 2017
Some were moved by the weirdness of the experience of being surrounded by an entire city’s worth of people staring skyward.
Coolest part of the eclipse is by far the apocalyptic surrealism of thousands of people standing in downtown Boston staring at the sky pic.twitter.com/4EprshHQ0Q
— Camino 84 (@caminodisco) August 21, 2017
Some incredible photos of the eclipse itself emerged after the action, like this one of a jet flying in front of a partially eclipsed sun.
Over #Boston, w/just a few min. left in #SolarEclipse2017,world’s largest passenger jet flies in front of sun. @EtihadAirways Ey101 #A380 pic.twitter.com/XJNnM129Nf
— Mark Garfinkel (@pictureboston) August 21, 2017
In other news, a group of so-called “flat earthers” gathered outside MIT to protest.
Meanwhile, there’s a flat-earth society demonstration at MIT during the eclipse. @universalhub pic.twitter.com/ulpPRbWW7b
— David Weininger (@davidgweininger) August 21, 2017
