The recent partial solar eclipse drew people to gather together on 4th street in San Rafael to observe this amazing phenomenon just as people have done for millennia.   Some people brought improvised astronomical instruments that displayed the eclipse on a card so that we could watch as the moon coverd some 80% of the sun. 

One fellow put a pinhole over some binoculars, mounted them on a tripod and set it up in front of the Smith Theater.  Crowds gathered, people took pictures with their cell phones, they talked and met each other. The police drove by to see what the fuss was about. 

As the eclipse went to maximum, it was dinner time.  Sharon and I were preparing for my departure for work in Saudi Arabia so we went across the street to eat at the Falafal Hut, the only middle eastern restaurant in San Rafael.  We could see the crowds dwindling as the sun escaped the moon.

After dinner we went home and downloaded the video that we made with our cell phones, along with some stills.  With our cell phones we find that making video is something that we do routinely now, even though the quality isn't all that great, it is the tool that you always have at hand so we use it.  The video that we get is actually good enough to use for our cable show if we run it through a video editing program, doing minimal corrections and editing for the story.

Now I'm cutting a short segment for our next Marinations program using the footage from the May Eclipse.