Tools Of The Trade

Day 29: My little home botany lab is equipped with a variety of specialized tools, mostly the hand-held (and less expensive!) versions of mechanized professional devices. Some of them require an extra degree of skill in order to get good results, and that's particularly the case with the microtome. Small specimens must be embedded in paraffin before mounting in the jaws, but larger pieces such as a snapdragon stem can be used without additional preparation. A straight razor is drawn across the glass plate to level the material, and then by turning the dial on the base, the specimen may be advanced in increments of 0.01 mm (10 microns). A second slice with the razor will yield a section of tissue suitable for viewing under the microscope.

The implement with the gold handle is also a measuring device. It is called a "mini-tool" and the spade end is 5 mm. wide, with each millimeter marked off in 10 divisions. With its markings barely visible to the naked eye, this tiny "ruler" is placed under the microscope objective at lower powers to determine such things as cell length/width. For higher powers, a reticule and/or stage micrometer are required, but that's for another post. Scientists have the coolest toys!

Totality 2-26-1979

Day 132: In case any of my readers have missed the announcement, a total eclipse of the sun will be visible in a 60-mile wide ribbon which will travel across the country roughly from Lincoln City, OR, to South Carolina on August 21, 2017. The last time a total eclipse was visible in the continental US was on February 26, 1979. I had the great good fortune to be able to view it from the Stonehenge replica at Maryhill, WA. That was when I captured this image using a Mamiya-Sekor 1000 DTL and Kodachrome film (ASA unknown). The slides have deteriorated over the last 38 years, but despite imperfections and grain, still show the corona and multiple prominences.

Although we noticed the "eclipse wind" and sudden drop in air temperature, my husband and I didn't witness any of the other phenomena which sometimes occur during totality, but perhaps that was because we didn't know to look for them. Viewers have reported shimmering bands of darkness on light-coloured ground, other-worldly super-saturation of colours and intense, crisply-edged shadows, but these only occur over a span of minutes, and if your attention is focused on the sky, you may miss them.

Partiality will be visible to a wider audience in a 140-mile wide band, but weather and circumstance permitting, I hope to be in the path of total darkness in August, camera and telescope on hand. It will be the last chance I have to see a total eclipse in my lifetime.