No visible eclipse in Marina, no problem

On a cloudy eclipse day, skygazers in Marina were out of luck.

“We were sort of looking forward to seeing a little dimming but not with this overcast (weather),” John Pearse, of Pacific Grove, said.

Because of the overcast conditions, scientists at “the Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy” watched a livestream of the eclipse on a projector and invited the public to attend. “

This is Marina in the summertime. We are dealing with fog,” astronomer Dr. Bruce Weaver said. “Welcome to the world of astronomy.”

Dr. Weaver has seen his fair share of total eclipses, a half dozen or more, he said. So naturally, watching this eclipse from inside isn’t his most exciting eclipse experience, but he is still taking this opportunity to educate people about all things astronomical.

“I think it’s pretty exciting to have the astronomy center open and to have the scientists educating us on it and understanding that they’ve traveled all over to go see it (total eclipse) and haven’t been able to, at times.”

The audience, which showed up at the watch party in hopes of seeing the sun at least 70 percent covered, was a bit disappointed, but at the same time many were happy to be able to witness history.

“First, it got real quiet in the room and then when it hit totality, everybody clapped. It was pretty exciting to be part of this,” Alan Holmstrom, of Monterey, said.

If you missed out Monday, start planning ahead for 2019 in Chile or 2024, when a total eclipse is expected to cross the United States from Texas to Maine.