Anyone else catch the solar eclipse yesterday? I had forgotten about it, but as I was eating dinner and looking out the window, I noticed that the light outside was "off" somehow. It was darker than usual for that time of day but the angle and the color of the sky was all wrong for it to be that dim, and that's when I remembered the eclipse.

I used the mirror trick to observe the eclipse. A signal mirror, in fact, so at least I can say I've used it for at least one real life situation.

I sat next to a west facing window and bounced the image of the sun up onto the ceiling. I must say, it was really neat to actually see that crescent shape reflected onto the ceiling. I already missed the peak, but I could see the crescent shape change as the moon moved off the sun. Cool!

Funny that most people on TV don't mention the mirror trick, at least as far as I noticed leading up to the eclipse. Usually they mention a pinhole camera or using welding goggles. Or even a solar telescope! (Who has a solar telescope handy?) One person also mentioned using a video camera and watching the eclipse on the screen, but that doesn't sound very good for the camera's CCD sensor, especially if you're going to spend the time to watch the whole event unfold. Anyone know if that's actually bad for the CCD sensor?